Modelling of QUENCH 03 and QUENCH 06 Experiments Using RELAP/SCDAPSIM Code

Abstract

An important accident management measure for controlling severe accident transients in Light Water Reactors is the injection of water to cool the degrading core. Flooding of the overheated core, which causes quenching of the fuel rods, is considered a worst-case scenario regarding hydrogen generation rates which should not exceed safety-relevant critical values. Within the frame of the QUENCH test-program the loss of coolant accidents with the following flooding of overheated core in Light Water Reactors is analysed using an experimental facility. The modelling of QUENCH-03 and QUENCH-06 experiments was performed with RELAP/SCDAPSIM computer code. The observed calculation results showed that thermal properties of shroud materials (heat losses through the shroud) and electrical power of fuel simulators are the main source of uncertainty in the calculations. The main idea of this article is modification of input parameters to receive the best agreement with the measurements for the selected QUENCH test. Modified input parameters are used in the input deck for another QUENCH test. The good agreement between calculation results and measurements of both QUENCH tests demonstrated the correctness of modified parameters and legitimacy with the real physical processes.