Development and application of a UTSG thermal-hydraulic analysis code

Structural integrity of steam generator should be maintained during operation, since it performs as the pressure boundary of primary side coolant. Localized thermal-hydraulic parameters of secondary side are essential for the analysis of tube wastage, fatigue and failure. In this paper, a three-dimensional thermohydraulics analysis code, named STAF, is developed based on FLUENT. With STAF code, three-dimensional thermohydraulics of secondary side of AP1000 steam generator are generated. This code is developed based on the porous media theory. In this code, the drift flux two-phase model coupled with a simplified flow boiling model is utilized to present two-phase flow among the U-tube bundle. Downcomer, tube bundle, support plates and primary separators in steam generator are considered in STAF code. The calculated results are compared with a general steam generator thermohydraulic analysis code ATHOS, which is developed by the Westinghouse. The comparison indicates that STAF code performs well in evaluating thermal-hydraulic parameters in steam generator. The results show that the flow field varies significantly at different position in AP1000 steam generator. Flow vapor quality at the inlet of primary separators varies significantly, which is a severe challenge to the capacity design of separators.