COBRA-TF (Coolant Boiling in Rod Arrays–Two Fluid), or CTF, is a transient subchannel code selected to be the reactor core thermal-hydraulic simulation tool in the multiphysics code-development project of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactor (CASL) sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE). In this paper, CTF’s capability for departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) prediction is evaluated by modeling and simulating power-burst experiments with high-burnup pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel rods, conducted at the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR) in Japan. Experiments using reactor fuel segments have been modeled and simulated to evaluate CTF’s prediction capability for onset of DNB and heat transfer from single-phase to post-critical heat flux (CHF) during fast reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) transients. The calculations demonstrated that CTF is able to simulate a fast transient with a large power pulse. CTF predicted DNB occurrence in all of the cases, after the power pulse, consistent with experimental observations. In the experiments, all cases experienced DNB, as predicted by the correlations in CTF; however, fuel failure occurred in only two of the cases: one at the peak power and the other after the peak power. The remaining cases survived with enthalpies significantly higher than those that failed while experiencing DNB occurrences.
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July 2016
Research Papers
COBRA-TF Simulation of DNB Response During Reactivity-Initiated Accidents Using the NSRR Pulse Irradiation Experiments
Vefa N. Kucukboyaci,
e-mail: kucukbvn@westinghouse.com
Vefa N. Kucukboyaci
1
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 233, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
e-mail: kucukbvn@westinghouse.com
1Corresponding author.
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Liping Cao,
e-mail: caol@westinghouse.com
Liping Cao
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 427, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
e-mail: caol@westinghouse.com
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Yixing Sung
e-mail: sungy@westinghouse.com
Yixing Sung
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 233, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
e-mail: sungy@westinghouse.com
Search for other works by this author on:
Vefa N. Kucukboyaci
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 233, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
e-mail: kucukbvn@westinghouse.com
Liping Cao
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 427, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
e-mail: caol@westinghouse.com
Yixing Sung
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Suite 233, Cranberry Township, PA 16066
e-mail: sungy@westinghouse.com
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received February 12, 2015; final manuscript received January 12, 2016; published online June 17, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Jovica R. Riznic.
ASME J of Nuclear Rad Sci. Jul 2016, 2(3): 031002 (5 pages)
Published Online: June 17, 2016
Article history
Received:
February 12, 2015
Revision Received:
January 12, 2016
Accepted:
January 21, 2016
Citation
Kucukboyaci, V. N., Cao, L., and Sung, Y. (June 17, 2016). "COBRA-TF Simulation of DNB Response During Reactivity-Initiated Accidents Using the NSRR Pulse Irradiation Experiments." ASME. ASME J of Nuclear Rad Sci. July 2016; 2(3): 031002. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4032594
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