CFD analysis of the temperature field in emergency pump room in Loviisa NPP

Abstract

In the Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) six emergency pumps belonging to the same redundancy are located in the same room. During a postulated accident the cooling of the room is needed as the engines of the emergency pumps generate heat. Cooling is performed with fans blowing air to the upper part of the room. Temperature limits have been given to the operating conditions of the main components in order to ensure their reliable operation. Therefore the temperature field of the room is important to know.Temperature measurements were made close to the most important components of the pump room to get a better understanding of the temperature field. For these measurements emergency pumps and cooling fan units were activated. To simulate conditions during a postulated accident additional warm-air heaters were used.Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were made to support plant measurements. For the CFD study one of the pump rooms of Loviisa NPP was scanned with a laser and this data converted to detailed 3-D geometry. Tetrahedral computation grid was created inside the geometry. Grid sensitivity studies were made, and the model was then validated against the power plant tests. With CFD the detailed temperature and flow fields of the whole room were produced. The used CFD model was able to reproduce the temperature field of the measurements.Two postulated accident cases were simulated. In the cases the operating cooling units were varied. The temperature profile of the room changes significantly depending on which units are cooling and which only circulating the air. The room average temperature stays approximately the same. The simulation results were used to ensure the acceptable operating conditions of the important process components.