Abstract
A new thermal-hydraulic computational procedure, which employs the perturbation method, is described for pressurized water reactor design and analysis. This THINC-IV computer program calculates the three-dimensional coolant and enthalpy behavior in an open lattice reactor core at steady-state flow and power conditions. Design evaluation of Westinghouse PWRs is carried out using this program with the correlations described herein. The THINC-IV calculation scheme differs from existing thermal-hydraulic programs in that lateral momentum equations, including both inertial and frictional effects are incorporated. A perturbation technique is employed to solve the momentum equations in the three coordinate directions. The perturbed axial velocity is obtained by solution of a field equation formed from the perturbed momentum equations. The crossflow velocities are then determined from the lateral momentum equations and are used with the complete continuity and energy equations to solve for the three-dimensional enthalpy distribution in the core. Calculations performed by this method compared well with measurements for five available experiments, giving confidence in its use for PWR analysis.
Published Version
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