Abstract
This paper presents the assessment of CATHARE 3 against PWR subchannel and rod bundle tests of the PSBT benchmark. Noticeable measurements were the following: void fraction in single subchannel and rod bundle, multiple liquid temperatures at subchannel exit in rod bundle, and DNB power and location in rod bundle. All these results were obtained both in steady and transient conditions. Void fraction values are satisfactory predicted by CATHARE 3 in single subchannels with the pipe module. More dispersed predictions of void values are obtained in rod bundles with the CATHARE 3 3D module at subchannel scale. Single-phase liquid mixing tests and DNB tests in rod bundle are also analyzed. After calibrating the mixing in liquid single phase with specific tests, DNB tests using void mixing give mitigated results, perhaps linked to inappropriate use of CHF lookup tables in such rod bundles with many spacers.
Highlights
CATHARE 3 is a new two-phase thermalhydraulics system code developed at CEA Grenoble [1]
Following the BWR Full-size Fine-Mesh Bundle tests (BFBT) benchmark, the PWR subchannel and bundle tests (PSBT) benchmark [2] is proposed by OECD/Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
The 1D and 3D modules of the CATHARE 3 system code were used for the simulations of PSBT benchmark tests
Summary
CATHARE 3 is a new two-phase thermalhydraulics system code developed at CEA Grenoble [1]. Following the BWR Full-size Fine-Mesh Bundle tests (BFBT) benchmark, the PWR subchannel and bundle tests (PSBT) benchmark [2] is proposed by OECD/NRC Both are based upon a NUPEC database obtained in fullscale subchannels and rod bundles and include detailed measurements of fluid temperature, void fraction, and critical power or DNB power in steady and transient conditions. These experiments are useful to check and validate the code closure laws in rod bundles, especially the turbulence dispersion coefficients for heat in single-phase flow and void in two-phase flow, the wall and interfacial friction coefficients, and the wall-to-fluid heat transfer models.
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