Buckling Behaviors of Metallic Columns Under Compressive Load at Extremely High Temperatures

Author(s):  
Byeongnam Jo ◽  
Wataru Sagawa ◽  
Koji Okamoto

This study aims to investigate buckling behaviors of a slender stainless steel column under compressive loads in severe accident conditions, which addresses the accidents in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. Firstly, buckling load, defined a load which generates a failure of the column (plastic collapse) was experimentally measured in a wide range of temperatures from 25 °C up to 1200 °C. The buckling load values measured were compared to numerical estimations for both an ideal column and for a column initially bent. Secondly, creep buckling tests were also performed for extremely high temperatures (800 °C, 900 °C, and 1000 °C). Creep buckling was found to occur very quickly compared to general creep times under tensile stresses. Time to creep buckling was exponentially increased with decrease of loads applied. Lateral deflection of a test column was estimated using captured images by a high speed camera. It was suggested to represent creep buckling behaviors as a time-lateral deflection curve. Moreover, an empirical correlation was developed to predict creep buckling time, based on the Larson-Miller model with experimental results obtained in present study.

Author(s):  
Byeongnam Jo ◽  
Wataru Sagawa ◽  
Koji Okamoto

Buckling failure load of stainless steel columns under compressive stress was experimentally measured in severe accident conditions, which addresses the accidents in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. Firstly, buckling failure load defined as load which causes failure of the column (plastic collapse) was measured in a wide range of temperatures from 25 °C up to 1200 °C. The load values measured in this study were compared to numerical estimations by eigenvalue simulations (for an ideal column) and by nonlinear simulations (for a column with initial bending). Two different methods for measurement of the buckling failure load were employed to examine the effect of thermal history on buckling failure. Different load values were obtained from two methods in high temperature conditions over 800 °C. The difference in the buckling failure load between two methods increased with temperature, which was explained by the effect of creep at high temperatures. Moreover, the influence of asymmetric temperature profiles along a plate column was also explored with regard to the failure mode and the buckling failure load. In present study, all of the buckling processes were visualized by a high speed camera.


Author(s):  
P. Papadopoulos ◽  
T. Lind ◽  
H.-M. Prasser

After the accident in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the interest of adding Filtered Containment Venting Systems (FCVS) on existing nuclear power plants to prevent radioactive releases to the environment during a severe accident has increased. Wet scrubbers are one possible design element which can be part of an FCVS system. The efficiency of this scrubber type is thereby depending, among others, on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics inside the scrubber. The flow structure is mainly established by the design of the gas inlet nozzle. The venturi geometry is one of the nozzle types that can be found in nowadays FCVS. It acts in two different steps on the removal process of the contaminants in the gas stream. Downstream the suction opening in the throat of the venturi, droplets are formed by atomization of the liquid film. The droplets are contributing to the capture of aerosols and volatile gases from the mixture coming from the containment. Studies state that the majority of the contaminants is scrubbed within this misty flow regime. At the top of the venturi, the gas stream is injected into the pool. The pressure drop at the nozzle exit leads to the formation of smaller bubbles, thus increasing the interfacial area concentration in the pool. In this work, the flow inside a full-scale venturi scrubber has been optically analyzed using shadowgraphy with a high-speed camera. The venturi nozzle was installed in the TRISTAN facility at PSI which was originally designed to investigate the flow dynamics of a tube rupture inside a full-length scale steam generator tube bundle. The data analysis was focused on evaluating the droplet size distribution and the Sauter mean diameter under different gas flow rates and operation modes. The scrubber was operated in two different ways, submerged and unsubmerged. The aim was to include the effect on the droplet sizes of using the nozzle in a submerged operation mode.


Author(s):  
Milan Amižić ◽  
Estelle Guyez ◽  
Jean-Marie Seiler

In the frame of severe accident research for the second and the third generation of nuclear power plants, some aspects of the concrete cavity ablation during the molten corium–concrete interaction are still remaining issues. The determination of heat transfer along the interfacial region between the molten corium pool and the ablating basemat concrete is crucial for the assessment of concrete ablation progression and eventually the basemat melt-through. For the purpose of experimental investigation of thermal-hydraulics inside a liquid pool agitated by gas bubbles, the CLARA project has been launched jointly by CEA, EDF, IRSN, GDF-Suez and SARNET. The CLARA experiments are performed using simulant materials and they reveal the influence of superficial gas velocity, liquid viscosity and pool geometry on the heat transfer coefficient between the internally heated liquid pool and vertical and horizontal pool walls maintained at uniform temperature. The first test campaign has been conducted with the smallest pool configuration (50 cm × 25 cm × 25 cm). The tests have been performed with liquids covering a wide range of dynamic viscosity from approximately 1 mPa s to 10000 mPa s. This paper presents some preliminary conclusions deduced from the experiments which involve a liquid pool with the gas injection only from the bottom plate. A comparison with existing models for the assessment of heat transfer has also been carried out.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirza M. Shah

Prediction of evaporation rates from spent fuel pools of nuclear power plants in normal and postaccident conditions is of great importance for the design of safety systems. A severe accident in 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant caused failure of cooling systems of its spent fuel pools. The postaccident evaporation from the spent fuel pools of Fukushima units 2 and 4 is compared to a model based on analogy between heat and mass transfer which has been validated with a wide range of data from many water pools including a spent fuel pool. Calculations are done with two published estimates of fuel decay heat, one 25% lower than the other. The model predictions are close to the evaporation using the lower estimate of decay heat. Other relevant test data are also analyzed and found in good agreement with the model.


Author(s):  
Mirza M. Shah

Prediction of evaporation rates from spent fuel pools of nuclear power plants in normal and post-accident conditions is of great importance for the design of safety systems. A severe accident in 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant caused failure of cooling systems of its spent fuel pools. The post-accident evaporation from the spent fuel pools of Fukushima units 2 and 4 is compared to a model based on analogy between heat and mass transfer which has been validated with a wide range of data from many water pools including a spent fuel pool. Calculations are done with two published estimates of fuel decay heat, one 25 % lower than the other. The model predictions are close to the evaporation using the lower estimate of decay heat. Other relevant test data are also analyzed and found in good agreement with the model.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Marko Bohanec ◽  
Ivan Vrbanić ◽  
Ivica Bašić ◽  
Klemen Debelak ◽  
Luka Štrubelj

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Taeseok Kim ◽  
Wonjun Choi ◽  
Joongoo Jeon ◽  
Nam Kyung Kim ◽  
Hoichul Jung ◽  
...  

During a hypothesized severe accident, a containment building is designed to act as a final barrier to prevent release of fission products to the environment in nuclear power plants. However, in a bypass scenario of steam generator tube rupture (SGTR), radioactive nuclides can be released to environment even if the containment is not ruptured. Thus, thorough mitigation strategies are needed to prevent such unfiltered release of the radioactive nuclides during SGTR accidents. To mitigate the consequence of the SGTR accident, this study was conducted to devise a conceptual approach of installing In-Containment Relief Valve (ICRV) from steam generator (SG) to the free space in the containment building and it was simulated by MELCOR code for numerical analysis. Simulation results show that the radioactive nuclides were not released to the environment in the ICRV case. However, the containment pressure increased more than the base case, which is a disadvantage of the ICRV. To minimize the negative effects of the ICRV, the ICRV linked to Reactor Drain Tank (RDT) and cavity flooding was performed. Because the overpressurization of containment is due to heat of ex-vessel corium, only cavity flooding was effective for depressurization. The conceptual design of the ICRV is effective in mitigating the SGTR accident.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Paci ◽  
Jean-Pierre Van Dorsselaere

The SARNET2 (severe accidents Research NETwork of Excellence) project started in April 2009 for 4 years in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission (EC), following a similar first project in FP6. Forty-seven organisations from 24 countries network their capacities of research in the severe accident (SA) field inside SARNET to resolve the most important remaining uncertainties and safety issues on SA in water-cooled nuclear power plants (NPPs). The network includes a large majority of the European actors involved in SA research plus a few non-European relevant ones. The “Education and Training” programme in SARNET is a series of actions foreseen in this network for the “spreading of excellence.” It is focused on raising the competence level of Master and Ph.D. students and young researchers engaged in SA research and on organizing information/training courses for NPP staff or regulatory authorities (but also for researchers) interested in SA management procedures.


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