Numerical investigation on heat removal capacity of passive residual heat removal heat exchanger

In the present study, thermal-hydraulics characteristics of AP1000 passive residual heat removal heat exchanger (PRHRHX) at initial operating stage were analyzed based on the porous media models. The data predicated by RELAP5 under the condition of the station blackout was employed as the inlet flow rate and temperature boundary of CFD calculation. The heat transfer from the primary side coolant to the incontainment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) side fluid was calculated in a three-dimensional geometry during iterations, and the distributed resistances were added into the Ctype tube bundle regions. Three-dimensional distributions of velocity and temperature in the IRWST were calculated by the CFD code ANSYS FLUENT. The primary temperature, heat transfer coefficients of two sides and the heat transfer were obtained using the coupled heat transfer between the primary side and the IRWST side. The simulation results indicated that the water temperature rises gradually which leads to a thermal stratification phenomenon in the tank and the heat transfer capability decreases with an increase of water temperature. The present results indicated that the method containing coupled heat transfer from the primary side fluid to IRWST side fluid and porous media model is a suitable approach to study the transient thermal-hydraulics of PRHR/IRWST system.