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Leveraging MARVEL and SPHERE to Demonstrate NEAMS Thermal Hydraulics Codes

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/3013635· OSTI ID:3013635
The Single Primary Heat Extraction and Removal Emulator (SPHERE) and Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) were utilized to demonstrate thermal hydraulics codes of the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. A recent long-duration test of a sodium heat pipe conducted at the SPHERE facility was utilized for the validation of the heat pipe code Sockeye. The first 10 hours of operation featured a startup of the heat pipe from room temperature; this portion was modeled with Sockeye and compared to the experimental data. Measurements included several thermocouple measurements across the length of the heat pipe surface. Two of Sockeye’s heat pipe models were applied to experiment, as well as several models of the cooling at the condenser end of the heat pipe. Sockeye results gave a decent match to the experimental data, with notable discrepancy in the condenser section, where experimental data indicated a significant inactive length of the heat pipe. The MARVEL microreactor was modeled through a coupled simulation of System Analysis Module (SAM) and SubChannel Module (SCM). This multiscale coupled simulation was performed as an exercise to demonstrate the compatibility and applicability of these codes for thermal-hydraulic analysis of microreactors. The coupling between the SCM and SAM codes for multiscale modeling of MARVEL, was achieved through a domain overlapping approach. In this example a transient SAM simulation provided boundary conditions to SCM, and SCM provided pressure drop to SAM.
Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517; NE0008983
OSTI ID:
3013635
Report Number(s):
INL/RPT--25-82868
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English