Experimental study of coupled thermal and neutronic instabilities of two-phase flows in a boiling channel

Book · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:445548

Rao, Y F; Fukuda, K; Hashii, N ^[1]

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1. Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering

An experimental simulator is proposed for studying the mechanism of the two-phase flow instabilities in a boiling channel that involves coupled thermohydraulic and thermoneutronic feedbacks. In the experimental simulator, the thermohydraulic feedback loop is dealt with by a conventional two-phase flow heat transfer loop in which the coolant of water is circulated, while the thermoneutronic or void-reactivity feedback loop is partially simulated with a computer using the point-reactor model for the neutron dynamics and the lumped parameter model for the fuel dynamics to model the interaction between the average void fraction and the heating rate to the boiling two-phase flow. Experiments are conducted with varied fuel-time constants and void-reactivity coefficients to investigate their effect on the coupled instability. The experimental simulator is shown to be capable of revealing the fundamental characteristics of the coupled thermal and neutronic instabilities as have been discussed by previous analytical studies.

• OSTI ID: 445548
• Report Number(s): CONF-961105--; ISBN 0-7918-1520-X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
INSTABILITY
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR CHANNELS
REACTOR KINETICS
TWO-PHASE FLOW