Modelisation d’écoulement diphasique dans l’analyse du sous-canal de grappe d’assemblages

Abstract

In order to practice a design-by-analysis of thermohydraulics design of BWR fuel rod bundles, the subchannel analysis would play a major role. There, the immediate concern is improvement in its predictive capability of CHF due in particular to the film dryout (boiling transition phenomena: BT) on the fuel rod surface. Constitutive equations in the subchannel analysis formulation are responsible for the quality of calculated results. The constitutive equations are a result of integration of the local and instantaneous description of two-phase flows over the subchannel control volume. In general, they are expressed in terms of subchannel-control-volume- as well as area-averaged two-phase flow state variables. In principle the information on local and instantaneous physical phenomena taking place inside subchannels must be counted for in the algebraic form of the equations on the basis of a more mechanistic modeling approach. They should include also influences of the multi-dimensional subchannel geometry and fluid material properties. Thermohydraulics phenomena of interests in this deed are: 1) vapor-liquid re-distribution by inter-subchannel exchanges due to the diversion cross flow, turbulent mixing and void drift, 2) liquid film behaviors, 3) transition of two-phase flow regimes, 4) droplet entrainment and deposition and 5) spacer-droplet interactions. These are considered to be five key factors in understanding the BT in BWR fuel rod bundles. In Japan, a university-industry consortium has been formed under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry. This paper describes an outline of the on-going project and, first, an outline of the current efforts is presented in developing a new two-fluid three field subchannel code NASCA being aimed at predicting onset of BT, and post BT phenomena in advanced BWR fuel rod bundles including those of the tight lattice configuration for a higher conversion. Then the current methodology adopted to improve the NASCA code capabilities for BT is described. There a combination of experimental and computational fluid dynamics approaches is undertaken to construct a two-phase fluid dynamics database. The experimental approach consists of 1) high-resolution airwater tests performed under the room-temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions for the intersubchannel exchanges, three-dimensional behaviors of liquid films, and spacer effects; and 2) integral steam-water tests performed at high-temperature and at higher pressure. In the integral tests, state-of the- arts of multi-phase flow measurement technologies are applied in order to obtain local and instantaneous data that reveal underlying detailed physical processes including high resolution void distributions inside a 4x4 bundle, liquid film thickness and two-phase flow regime. The analytical approach consists of computational multi-phase fluid dynamics (CMFD) applicable to two-phase flows. A physical interpretation of the equilibrium two-phase flow redistribution inside a rod bundle is discussed that is considered to closely be related to the void drift phenomena. Identification of interactions among dominant factors is a main objective of the integral test and acquired data will be utilized in verifying the improved subchannel code. Construction of a complete set of two-phase fluid dynamics database will be made by supplementing missing data regions with the aid of numerical analyses. Dependency on important state variables is extracted from the database and prototype constitutive equations are going to be proposed in the final stage of the project.