Abstract
A canned nuclear coolant pump is used in an advanced third-generation pressurized water reactor. Impeller is a key component of a canned nuclear coolant pump. Usually, the blade is installed between the hub and the shroud as an entire part. The blade is divided into two parts and is staggered in the circumferential direction is an approach of blade design. To understand the effects of staggered blades on a canned nuclear coolant pump, this article numerically investigated different types of staggering. The validity of the numerical simulation was confirmed by comparing the numerical and experimental results. The performance change of a canned nuclear coolant pump with staggered blades was acquired. Hydraulic performance curves, axial force curves, static pressure distributions at the impeller outlet, and static pressure pulsations were performed to investigate the performance changes caused by the staggered blades. The results show that the staggered blade has an important influence on the performance of canned nuclear coolant pumps. A staggered blade does not improve hydraulic performance but does improve the axial force and pressure pulsation. Specifically, the staggered blades can significantly reduce the pressure pulsation amplitude on the impeller pass frequency.
Highlights
The reactor coolant pump that is used to circulate coolant between the reactor and the steam generator is key equipment in a nuclear power station
The reactor coolant pump used in an advanced third-generation pressurized water reactor is a canned pump, called a canned nuclear coolant pump
The agreement between the test and numerical results illustrates that computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations can be used to predict the performance of a canned nuclear pump model with acceptable accuracy
Summary
The reactor coolant pump that is used to circulate coolant between the reactor and the steam generator is key equipment in a nuclear power station. Different staggered blade impellers will be investigated to show the influence of staggered blades on a canned nuclear coolant pump. Based on numerical calculations of a model pump, the changes and different performances in hydraulic performance curves, axial force curves, static pressure distributions at the impeller outlet, and static pressure pulsations were investigated. Can be staggered from each other in the circumferential direction, somewhat similar to some double-suction pumps.[13,14] The blade design is shown in Figures 2 and 3. The Integrated Computer Engineering and Manufacturing code for Computational Fluid Dynamics (ICEMCFD) was used to generate an unstructured grid for other static components, and the total grid element number was approximately 2.0 3 106.16 Table 1 shows the results of the grid sensitivity analysis. It can be seen that the values experience only a slight change, which indicates that the simulation results are becoming stable
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