Experimental Analyses by SIMMER-III on Duct-Wall Failure and Fuel Discharge/Relocation Behavior

Author(s):  
Hidemasa Yamano ◽  
Yoshiharu Tobita

This paper describes experimental analyses using SIMMER-III/IV, which are two/three-dimensional multi-component multi-phase Eulerian fluid-dynamics codes, for the purpose of the code validation. Two topics of key phenomena in core disruptive accidents were presented in this paper: duct-wall failure and fuel discharge/relocation behavior. To analyze the duct-wall failure behavior, the SCARABEE BE+3 in-pile experiments were selected. The SIMMER-III calculation was in good agreement with the overall event progression; which was characterized by coolant boiling, clad melting, fuel failure, molten pool formation, duct-wall failure, etc.; observed in the experiment. The CAMEL C6 experiment investigated the fuel discharge and relocation behavior through a simulated control rod guide tube, which is important in evaluating the neutronic reactivity. SIMMER-IV well simulated fuel-coolant interaction, sodium voiding, fuel relocation behavior observed in the experiment. These experimental analyses indicated the validity of the SIMMER-III/IV computer code for the duct wall failure and fuel discharge/relocation behavior.

Author(s):  
Hidemasa Yamano ◽  
Yoshiharu Tobita

This paper describes experimental analyses using the SIMMER-III computer code, which is a two-dimensional multi-component multi-phase Eulerian fluid-dynamics code. Two topics of key phenomena in core disruptive accidents were presented in this paper: debris-bed coolability and metallic fuel freezing behavior. Related experimental database were reviewed to choose suitable experiments. To analyze the debris-bed coolability, the ACRR-D10 in-pile experiments were selected. SIMMER-III well simulated the heat transfer mechanisms including conduction, boiling and channeling observed in the experiment. Metallic fuel may freeze onto the stainless steel (cladding or wrapper tube) together with eutectic formation during core disruption in a metallic-fueled reactor. The CAFE´-UT2 experiment carried out using pure UO2 melt to investigate such phenomena was selected for the experimental analysis. In spite of no eutectic formation model in the SIMMER-III code, the calculated fuel penetration behavior was in good agreement with the experimental data.


Author(s):  
Eric Lillberg

The cracked control rods shafts found in two Swedish NPPs were subjected to thermal fatigue due to mixing of cold purge flow with hot bypass water in the upper part of the top tube on which the control rod guide tubes rests. The interaction between the jets formed at the bypass water inlets is the main source of oscillation resulting in low frequency downward motion of hot bypass water into the cold purge flow. This ultimately causes thermal fatigue in the control rod shaft in the region below the four lower bypass water inlets. The transient analyses shown in this report were done to further investigate this oscillating phenomenon and compare to experimental measurements of water temperatures inside the control rod guide tube. The simulated results show good agreement with experimental data regarding all important variables for the estimation of thermal fatigue such as peak-to-peak temperature range, frequency of oscillation and duration of the temperature peaks. The results presented in this report show that CFD using LES methodology and the open source toolbox OpenFOAM is a viable tool for predicting complex turbulent mixing flows and thermal loads.


Author(s):  
Ronghua Chen ◽  
Lie Chen ◽  
Wenxi Tian ◽  
Guanghui Su ◽  
Suizheng Qiu

In the typical boiling water reactor (BWR), each control rod guide tube supports four fuel assemblies via an orificed fuel support piece in which a channel is designed to be a potential corium relocation path from the core region to the lower head under severe accident conditions. In this study, the improved Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method was adopted to analyze the melt flow and ablation behavior in this region during a severe accident of BWR. A three-dimensional particle configuration was constructed for analyzing the melt flow behavior within the fuel support piece. Considering the symmetry of the fuel support piece, only one fourth of the fuel support was simulated. The eutectic reaction between Zr (the material of the corium) and stainless steel (the material of the fuel support piece) was taken into consideration. The typical melt flow and freezing behaviors within the fuel support piece were successfully reproduced by MPS method. In all the simulation cases, the melt discharged from the hole of the fuel support piece instead of plugging the fuel support piece. The results indicate that MPS method has the capacity to analyze the melt flow and solidification behavior in the fuel support piece.


Author(s):  
Hidemasa Yamano ◽  
Yoshiharu Tobita

This paper describes experimental analyses using the SIMMER-III computer code, which were precedently carried out to give boundary conditions for the integral verification of the new COMPASS code, which is based on MPS method. Two topics of key phenomena in core disruptive accidents were presented in this paper: molten fuel freezing and dispersion; and boiling behavior of molten fuel pool. Related experimental database are reviewed to select appropriate experiments. To analyze the fuel freezing behavior, the GEYSER out-of-pile and the CABRI-EFM1 in-pile experiments were selected. The SIMMER-III calculations were in good agreement with fuel penetration lengths measured in a series of the GEYSER experiments. The fuel freezing behavior in the CABRI-EFM1 experiment was also reasonably simulated by SIMMER-III. The boiling pool consisting principally of molten fuel/steel mixtures is characterized by the heat transfer between fuel and steel. The CABRI-TPA2 experiment has suggested low transient heat flux from fuel to steel due to a steel vapor blanketing around a steel droplet. SIMMER-III well simulated the steel boiling behavior observed in the CABRI-TPA2 experiment by applying reduced heat transfer coefficients between fuel and steel. These experimental analyses by SIMMER-III have also identified key processes to be clarified by mesoscopic simulations using the COMPASS code.


Author(s):  
Hidemasa Yamano ◽  
Yoshiharu Tobita

This paper describes experimental analyses using the SIMMER-III computer code, which is a two-dimensional multi-component multi-phase Eulerian fluid-dynamics code. Two topics of key phenomena in core disruptive accidents were presented in this paper: fuel-pin disruption, and low energy disrupted core motion. Related experimental database were reviewed to select appropriate experiments. To analyze the fuel-pin disruption behavior, the CABRI-EFM1 and the CABRI-E7 in-pile experiments were selected. The SIMMER-III calculation was in good agreement with the overall fuel-pin disruption and dispersion behavior, which was characterized by a thermal pin-failure mode, observed in the CABRI-EFM1 experiment. Since the code framework of SIMMER-III cannot treat a mechanical deformation and breakup behavior, the SAS4A code was applied to the CABRI-E7 experiment, where a mechanical pin-failure mode was realized. In this study, such a failure mode was also reasonably simulated. The low-energy disrupted core consists principally of fuel particles and liquid steel (or fuel). Under such a mixture condition, significantly reduced melt penetration length was obtained in the THEFIS out-of-pile experiments. SIMMER-III well simulated the melt freezing and blockage behavior observed in the experiment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Cheng ◽  
Zhenying Wang ◽  
Chuan Lu ◽  
Jibin Zhang ◽  
Shumao Bi ◽  
...  

The drop time of the control rod plays an important role in judging whether a nuclear reactor can be safely shut down in an emergency condition and has become one of the most important parameters for the safety analysis of nuclear power plants. Exact assessment of the drop time is greatly dependent on the forces acting on the control rod. In this research, a three-dimensional numerical simulation of the control rod in a low-temperature heating reactor was established based on 6DOF (6 degrees of freedom) model using dynamic meshing technology, and it was used to analyze the control rod dropping experiment. The behavior of dropping the control rod was obtained, including the velocity, the displacement, and the pressure distribution on the control rod guide tube. The comparison between the simulation and the experiment results indicated that the simulation was capable of simulating the dropping characteristic of the control rod. Some important parameters can be calculated, such as the time of control rod dropping process and the maximum impact force. Based on this, useful information could be provided for the design of control rod driveline structure.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayan Mondal ◽  
Gary Tresadern ◽  
Jeremy Greenwood ◽  
Byungchan Kim ◽  
Joe Kaus ◽  
...  

<p>Optimizing the solubility of small molecules is important in a wide variety of contexts, including in drug discovery where the optimization of aqueous solubility is often crucial to achieve oral bioavailability. In such a context, solubility optimization cannot be successfully pursued by indiscriminate increases in polarity, which would likely reduce permeability and potency. Moreover, increasing polarity may not even improve solubility itself in many cases, if it stabilizes the solid-state form. Here we present a novel physics-based approach to predict the solubility of small molecules, that takes into account three-dimensional solid-state characteristics in addition to polarity. The calculated solubilities are in good agreement with experimental solubilities taken both from the literature as well as from several active pharmaceutical discovery projects. This computational approach enables strategies to optimize solubility by disrupting the three-dimensional solid-state packing of novel chemical matter, illustrated here for an active medicinal chemistry campaign.</p>


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1622
Author(s):  
Wipawee Tepnatim ◽  
Witchuda Daud ◽  
Pitiya Kamonpatana

The microwave oven has become a standard appliance to reheat or cook meals in households and convenience stores. However, the main problem of microwave heating is the non-uniform temperature distribution, which may affect food quality and health safety. A three-dimensional mathematical model was developed to simulate the temperature distribution of four ready-to-eat sausages in a plastic package in a stationary versus a rotating microwave oven, and the model was validated experimentally. COMSOL software was applied to predict sausage temperatures at different orientations for the stationary microwave model, whereas COMSOL and COMSOL in combination with MATLAB software were used for a rotating microwave model. A sausage orientation at 135° with the waveguide was similar to that using the rotating microwave model regarding uniform thermal and electric field distributions. Both rotating models provided good agreement between the predicted and actual values and had greater precision than the stationary model. In addition, the computational time using COMSOL in combination with MATLAB was reduced by 60% compared to COMSOL alone. Consequently, the models could assist food producers and associations in designing packaging materials to prevent leakage of the packaging compound, developing new products and applications to improve product heating uniformity, and reducing the cost and time of the research and development stage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Durnea ◽  
S. Siddiqi ◽  
D. Nazarian ◽  
G. Munneke ◽  
P. M. Sedgwick ◽  
...  

AbstractThe feasibility of rendering three dimensional (3D) pelvic models of vaginal, urethral and paraurethral lesions from 2D MRI has been demonstrated previously. To quantitatively compare 3D models using two different image processing applications: 3D Slicer and OsiriX. Secondary analysis and processing of five MRI scan based image sets from female patients aged 29–43 years old with vaginal or paraurethral lesions. Cross sectional image sets were used to create 3D models of the pelvic structures with 3D Slicer and OsiriX image processing applications. The linear dimensions of the models created using the two different methods were compared using Bland-Altman plots. The comparisons demonstrated good agreement between measurements from the two applications. The two data sets obtained from different image processing methods demonstrated good agreement. Both 3D Slicer and OsiriX can be used interchangeably and produce almost similar results. The clinical role of this investigation modality remains to be further evaluated.


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