Simulations of single- and two-phase shock tubes and gravity-driven wave problems with the RELAP-7 nuclear reactor system analysis code

Journal Article · Fri May 12 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Nuclear Engineering and Design

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.04.034· OSTI ID:1396017

Delchini, Marc O. ^[1]; Ragusa, Jean C. ^[2]; Berry, Ray A. ^[3]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
3. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Propagation of pressure waves in single and two-phase flows is of key interest for nuclear safety analyses, reactor design, construction and life extension of nuclear reactors. In this work, we assess the capabilities of RELAP-7, the next-generation nuclear reactor system code, to solve single- and two-phase flows developing pressure waves. RELAP-7 is based on a 7-equation, two-phase flow model, with distinct phasic pressures. It is well established that these hyperbolic conservation laws can develop shocks and discontinuities and thus, require a stabilization numerical method. The all-Mach flow Entropy Viscosity Method (EVM) is now employed in RELAP-7 as a viscous stabilization approach. In this paper, we briefly describe the implementation of the EVM and use open-literature test cases that exhibit pressure waves to show that the entropy viscosity method performs adequately for these single- and two-phase cases.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517; AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1396017
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1394240; OSTI ID: 1682379
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-16-39762; PII: S0029549317302145
• Journal Information: Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 319, Issue C; ISSN 0029-5493
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
42 ENGINEERING
entropy viscosity method
low-Mach flow
pressure waves
RELAP-7
seven-equation model
single phase flows
two-phase flows
waterhammer