CFD model of a moderator tank for a pressure vessel PHWR nuclear power plant

SANTIAGO CORZO; RAMAJO DAMIAN; NORBERTO NIGRO

APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016

1359-4311

The CFD thermal hydraulic simulation of a Pressurized Heavy Water REactor (PHWR) moderator tank was performed. Heatingwas achieved by considering two heat sources, conduction/convection through the coolant channels and neutron thermalization.For the first method, a suitable 2D model for coupling the 3D with a 1D code to solve the in-channel coolant was implemented.For thermalization, a volumetric heat source was estimated. Due to the relevance of natural and forced convection in the heattransfer, the Boussinesq approach was assessed for high Rayleigh number flow before it was used to model the moderator tank.The results clarified the complex flow behaviour and the temperature field. As expected from design, the thermal power transferredfrom coolant to moderator is not directly related to the fission power distribution but to the axial coolant temperature profile (nearlythe same for all channels) and the non-homogeneous moderator temperature profile. The former was as expected for high-Rayleighnatural convection systems.