Investigation of the influence of gravitational forces on the thermal-hydraulic processes of power plants

Abstract

Today, improving the safety of nuclear power plants is one of the main problems. Obviously, heat and mass transfer processes have a great influence on complex phenomena occurring in the reactor plant. Currently, special software systems are being developed that can describe these processes (Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)). However, they do not take into account the influence of external gravitational forces. They occur when the spatial position of an object changes. In the case of ship-based nuclear power plants, the development of technical specifications should include a mandatory requirement for trouble-free operation when affected by pitching and rolling. The paper describes the study of the effect of shipboard pitching on the mixing processes of non-isothermal flows in a small-scale model. Based on the analysis of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the external dynamic force has a negative effect on the mixing of non-isothermal flows.