Three dimensional thermal hydraulic characteristic analysis of reactor core based on porous media method

Thermal-hydraulic performance in the reactor core was an essential factor in the nuclear power plant design. In this study, we analyzed the three-dimensional (3-D) thermal-hydraulic characteristic of reactor core based on porous media method. Firstly, a 3-D rector pressure vessel (RPV) model was built, including the inlet leg nozzle, downcomer, lower plenum, reactor core, upper plenum and outlet leg nozzle. Porous media model was used to simplify the reactor core and upper plenum. The commercial CFD code ANSYS CFX was employed to solve the governing equations and provide the 3-D local velocity, temperature and pressure field. After appropriate parameters and turbulent model being carefully selected, the simulation was validated against the 1:5 scaled steady-state hydraulic test. The predicted hydraulic parameters (normalized flowrate distribution and pressure drop) were in good agreement with the test results. And the predicted thermal parameters agreed well with the designed values. The validation indicated that this method was practicable in analyzing the 3-D thermal-hydraulic phenomena in the RPV. Finally, the thermal-hydraulic features in reactor core were analyzed under the condition of the Steam Generator Tube Rupture (SGTR) accident. The simulation results showed that the coolant temperature increased gradually from the center to the periphery in the reactor core in the accident. But the temperature decreased to safety level rapidly after the reactor shutdown and safety injection operation. The reactor core could keep in a safe state if appropriate safety operations were performed after accidents.