The THYC Three-Dimensional Thermal-Hydraulic Code for Rod Bundles: Recent Developments and Validation Tests

Abstract

Pressurized water reactor (PWR) or liquid-metal fast breeder reactor cores or fuel assemblies, PWR steam generators, condensers, and tubular heat exchangers are basic components of a nuclear power plant that involve two-phase flows in tube or rod bundles. A deep knowledge of the detailed flow patterns on the shell side is necessary to evaluate departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) margins in reactor cores, singularity effects (grids, wire spacers, support plates, and baffles), corrosion on the steam generator tube sheet, bypass effects, and vibration risks. For that purpose, Electricite de France has developed since 1986 a general purpose Thermal-HYdraulic Code (THYC) to study three-dimensional single- and two-phase flows in rod or tube bundles (PWR cores, steam generators, condensers, and heat exchangers). It considers the three-dimensional domain to contain two kinds of components : fluid and solids. The THYC model is obtained by space-time averaging of the instantaneous equations (mass, momentum, and energy) of each phase over control volumes including fluid and solids. The physical model of THYC is validated under several French and international experiments for single- and two-phase flows. The THYC is used for the calculation of transients such as steam-line break (coupled with a three-dimensional neutronics code), for DNB predictions, and for various steam generator or condenser studies.