PTA-1 computer program for treating pressure transients in hydraulic networks including the effect of pipe plasticity. [LMFBR]

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1977

OSTI ID:5382942

Youngdahl, C K; Kot, C A

Pressure pulses in the intermediate sodium system of a liquid-metal-cooled fast breeder reactor, such as may originate from a sodium/water reaction in a steam generator, are propagated through the complex sodium piping network to system components such as the pump and intermediate heat exchanger. To assess the effects of such pulses on continued reliable operation of these components and to contribute to system designs which result in the mitigation of these effects, Pressure Transient Analysis (PTA) computer codes are being developed for accurately computing the transmission of pressure pulses through a complicated fluid transport system, consisting of piping, fittings and junctions, and components. PTA-1 provides an extension of the well-accepted and verified fluid hammer formulation for computing hydraulic transients in elastic or rigid piping systems to include plastic deformation effects. The accuracy of the modeling of pipe plasticity effects on transient propagation has been validated using results from two sets of Stanford Research Institute experiments. Validation of PTA-1 using the latter set of experiments is described briefly. The comparisons of PTA-1 computations with experiments show that (1) elastic-plastic deformation of LMFBR-type piping can have a significant qualitative and quantitative effect on pressure pulse propagation, even in simple systems; (2) classical fluid-hammer theory gives erroneous results when applied to situations where piping deforms plastically; and (3) the computational model incorporated in PTA-1 for predicting plastic deformation and its effect on transient propagation is accurate.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., Ill. (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5382942
• Report Number(s): CONF-770807-55
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
ALKALI METALS
BREEDER REACTORS
CALCULATION METHODS
COMPUTER CODES
COOLING SYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HYDRAULICS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METALS
P CODES
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
REACTORS
SODIUM
TRANSIENTS
WATER HAMMER