Granular flow in pebble bed reactors: Dust generation and scaling
- Dept. of Mathematics, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
- Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland)
In experimental prototypes of pebble bed reactors, significant quantities of graphite dust have been observed due to rubbing between pebbles as they flow through the core. At the high temperatures and pressures in these reactors, little data is available to understand the frictional properties of the pebble surfaces, and as a result, the Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland) proposes a conceptual design of a scaled-down version of a pebble bed reactor to investigate this issue in detail. In this paper, simulations of granular flow in pebble bed reactors using the discrete-element method are presented. Simulations in the full geometry (using 440,000 pebbles) are compared to those in geometries scaled down by 3:1 and 6:1. The simulations show complex behavior due to discrete pebble packing effects, meaning that pebble flow and dust generation in a scaled-down facility may be significantly different. The differences between velocity profiles, packing geometry, and pebble wear at the different scales are discussed. The results can aid in the design of the prototypical facility to more accurately reproduce the flow in a full-size reactor. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22105969
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 27 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Pebble Fuel Handling and Reactivity Control for Salt-Cooled High Temperature Reactors
Pebble-bed pebble motion: Simulation and Applications