Numerical Simulation of the Transient Phase Change Heat Transfer in a Pressurized Water Reactor Core During a Loss-of-Coolant Accident

Abstract

Temperature of pressurized water reactor (PWR) core is a key parameter used widely for judging the initiation of emergency operating procedures and severe accident management. Since direct measurement of the fuel cladding surface temperature using thermocouples is not practicable currently, the coolant temperature at the core exit locations is monitored instead. Several experimental researches showed that the CET rise during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) and its magnitudes were always lower than the actual fuel rod cladding temperature at the same time. In this regard, a theoretical analysis of the transient heat transfer of coolant flow in a PWR core is needed to confirm the findings from the previous experimental works. This paper addresses numerical simulation of the transient boiling-induced multiphase flow through a simplified PWR core model during a LOCA by a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The calculated results are discussed to understand the transient heat transfer mechanism in the core and to provide useful technical information for reactor design and operation.