Prediction of Dryout Performance for Boiling Water Reactor Fuel Assemblies Based on Subchannel Analysis with the Rings Code

Abstract

A fuel assembly with a large critical power margin introduces flexibility into reload fuel management. Therefore, optimization of the bundle and spacer geometry to maximize the bundle critical power is an important design objective. With a view to reducing the extent of the complex full-scale tests usually carried out to determine the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of various assembly geometries, the subchannel analysis method was further developed with the Siemens RINGS code. The annular flow code predicts dryout power and dryout location by calculating the conditions at which the liquid film flow rate is reduced to zero, allowing for evaporation, droplet entrainment, and droplet deposition. Appropriate attention is paid to the modeling of spacer effects. Comparison with experimental data of 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 tests shows the capability of RINGS to predict the flow quality and mass flux in subchannels under typical boiling water reactor operating conditions. By using the RINGS code, experimental critical power data for 3 × 3, 4 × 4, 5 × 5, 7 × 7, 8 × 8, 9×9, and 10 × 10 fuel assemblies were successfully postcalculated.