Numerical simulation and experimental research on CHF characteristics of AP1000 nuclear reactor

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present paper aims to investigate the critical heat flux (CHF) characteristics of AP1000 reactor based on the experimental and numerical researches, under normal operation and loop fault conditions, respectively. The differences of flow characteristics in these conditions were analyzed. It indicated that the flow features are very complicated in three dimensions and AP1000 has better self-regulation capability to distribute coolant flow compared to conventional reactors. Under normal operation condition, coolant of two loops is distributed along circumference of the reactor annular channel symmetrically. In case that one of the loops fails suddenly and the coolant is partially lost to total loss, the core flow distribution plate and lower grid plate cannot eliminate uneven flow immediately due to loop failure, also the nonuniformity of reactor coolant flow distribution increases gradually, which leads to the heat transfer deterioration easily. In addition, the reactor core departure from nuclear boiling ratio (DNBR) and CHF does not show a certain linear relation, and the DNBR and CHF of AP1000 are greater than that of conventional reactors which not only improve the reactor thermal efficiency, but also obviously reduce the probability of CHF phenomenon appear.