Numerical study of blowdown period of double-end break loss of coolant accident in PWR based on RELAP5

Abstract

Loss of coolant accident (LOCA) is one of the most severe accidents of nuclear power plants (NPP). During the early blowdown period, the system is in a high-pressure gradient and high-velocity gradient state. Therefore, the hydrodynamic forces and safety analysis are highly related to calculating thermal-hydraulic parameters in the flow field. This paper studied the factors and modeling methods that affect the calculation of thermal-hydraulic characteristics under large break LOCA conditions. Firstly, the reactor core and primary system of a typical two-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) NPP is modeled using the system analysis code RELAP5 Mod4.0. The normal operation state is obtained after the steady calculation. Then, transient calculation of double-end break LOCA is implemented considering the effects of break opening time and the pressurizer. The influence of the results on the calculation of hydrodynamic force has also been analyzed. Finally, the modeling method of reactor pressurized vessel (RPV) downcomer is presented. It is found that the flow field can be better simulated when the downcomer is modeled with parallel channels and several transverse junctions. Thus, this paper provides meaningful suggestions for modeling and simulation in the early blowdown period under LOCA conditions and contributes to further hydrodynamic load calculation and reactor safety analysis.