A Comprehensive Sample Problem for Section III Division 5 Design by Elastic Analysis

Abstract

Abstract High temperature advanced nuclear reactor technologies could play an important role in moving the U.S. towards a zero-carbon future. Efforts to transform the U.S. nuclear industry have entered the full bloom, energized by billions of dollars in funding through the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). New reactors in the U.S. will most likely be designed to the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, Division 5 rules for safety related components in elevated temperature service. The goal of this paper is to provide the reactor designers with a comprehensive sample problem, detailing the step-by-step design calculations in Section III, Division 5, design by elastic analysis rules. The sample design problem is a 316H pressure vessel with a nozzle, similar to the pressure vessel and primary inlet nozzle in the intermediate heat exchanges of the Clinch River Breeder reactor plant. The sample problem considers several Service Level-A (normal condition) and Service Level-B (upset condition) loads. The sample problem uses Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), an open source finite element Code developed by Idaho National Laboratory, for thermal and structural analysis. For design calculations, the sample problem utilizes U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s software package “ASME Section III, Division 5 Design Tool”, originally developed at Argonne National Laboratory.