Hewitt, Bluck & Walker (Imperial)

(i) Water reactor design basis accident studies

(Large break LOCA, re-flood, interactions of thermal hydraulics and
mechanical deformation of the core)

(ii) Inorganic salt deposits (‘crud’) on PWR fuel

((Altered heat transfer modes,, thermal hydraulic
y and neutronic effects))

(iii) Computational methods development for elastodynamic NDT

Geoff Hewitt with more details on (i)

Academic Staff
Geoff Hewitt (Chem Eng), Simon Walker, Mike Bluck (Mech Eng)

KNOO ssupported:
pported
Colin Hale, Despoina Chatzikiriakou, Caroline Masson, Soleman Maudarboucas,
Jessy Zeng, Panos Sfikas

KNOO has already attracted others to it (free!)

Has caused us to be invited to join two IAEA CRP

CRP’s
s.

Two particular cross-Workpackage topics (both WP2: high Nb clad, NDT)

Water reactor design basis
accident studies
 Analysis of the reflood process:

• Multi pin rather than single pin models (heterogeneity)

Multi-pin

• Coupled
Co pled anal
analysis:
sis pin ballooning modifies coolant flo
flow passages
passages, and hence ffurther
rther
cooling, and hence further ballooning…..
Coupling of multi-pin structural mechanics and three-
dimensional transient two pphase thermal hydraulic
y analysis
y
for the study of design basis accidents

-develop models to incorporate the systematic and stochastic

heterogeneity of pin ballooning under reflood conditions
-reduction of conservatism implicit in single-pin models would
relax operating envelope constraints
-particularly
p y important
p in context of drive for higher
g burnups
p
-better understanding is crucial to permit use of advanced, high
ductility clad

-The multi-pin model

-Flow diversion studies
-Droplet field modelling
-Fundamental studies of rewetting
-High Nb cladding materials (WP 2)

Collaborations: BE,
BE Serco & Nexia
Nexia, USNRC (TRACE
(TRACE, ‘CAMP’
CAMP
agreement)
Ballooning computed for a PWR subassembly undergoing a loss of coolant accident. Systematic and
stochastic differences between pins have been incorporated. Distinct differences in the ballooning
behaviour of pins is clear,
clear as is the absence of large regions of coherent ballooning.
ballooning
 Crud
• Crud (Metal oxides, NiO, NiFe2O4, ) deposits on fuel pins

Very close collaboration with Nexia & BE

 Crud Issues in PWRs - Problems
• Hinders heat transfer

• More activated material (58Co, 60Co …) around circuit

• “Axial Offset Anomaly” problems (neutron flux &

power depression towards the top of the core)
• Power output reduced
• More fuel
f l failures
f il
• Surface heat transfer mechanism – Wick Boiling
Crud Modelling
g

CLADDING
From the Nexia work:
• Understand basic AOA mechanism

• Wick boiling/chemistry model – explains lot of crud

scrape data

Now:
• Need to understand crud deposition mechanism
better
• Need to understand the thermal hydraulics of crud-
coated cores
 Thermal hydraulics of crud-coated cores
• Extent/distribution of boiling
- Local thermal hydraulics (heat transport
within crud)
- Bulk thermal hydraulics
- Coupling
• Wick boiling model:
>99% heat removed by evaporative losses

• Heat transfer correlations – clean surfaces

• More boiling on crud covered surface compared to clean surface ?

• What are the most appropriate heat transfer correlations ?

• How are the local and bulk heat transport processes coupled ?

• Possible crud formation experiments?

p
 Computational methods for elastodynamic nuclear NDT

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• Essentially
E ti ll allll acoustic
ti NDT is
i about
b t sending
di acoustic ti waves into
i t structures,
t t and
d seeing
i how
h the
th
behaviour of the wave is modified by the geometry of the structure (ie by whether or not it contains a
defect)
• To be able to predict how any given structure will cause a wave to scatter is an aid in understanding
and interpreting observations
• Recent advances in other areas may have made possible a step increase in the capability to model
wave fields over multi-wavelength domains.
 C
Cost off scattering
i analyses
l

• Depending on the numerical approach, conventional methods

have costs that rise with a high power, typically the 5th or 6th
power of the size (in wavelengths) of the region analysed
power, analysed.

• If we can just about manage say a 5 wavelength region, a 50

wavelength
l th one will
ill b
be up tto 1
1,000,000
000 000 times
ti more expensive(!)
i (!)
23,000 centuries! 2 10 10

IEFD
FDTD
IEFD-FMM
1.5 10 10
e (CPU hrs)

1 10 10
Time

5 10 9

1 000 centuries!
1,000 t i !
0
0 100 200 300 400 500

Length (wavelengths)
 R d stealth
Radar t lth

• Almost identical, but worse, cost and cost scaling problems arise in radar stealth
modelling.
• Need to compute the scattered field in the space surrounding some target
(in the free space around a plane; comparable to the material surrounding a defect)
• Targets (aeroplanes) are tens to hundreds of wavelengths long
• Existing methods could just manage a plane say 5 wavelengths long
Wh t iis now possible:
What ibl
23,000 centuries! 2 10 10

IEFD
FDTD
IEFD-FMM
1.5 10 10
e (CPU hrs)

1 10 10
Time

5 10 9

1 000 centuries!
1,000 t i !
0
0 100 200 300 400 500

Length (wavelengths)
 10 10

1,000 centuries
10 8
IEFD
FDTD
IEFD-FMM
10 6

10 4
Time (CPU hrs)

100

0.01

0.0001

10 -6
1 10 100 1000

Length (wavelengths)
Presentt project
P j t is
i attempting
tt ti to
t develop
d l a
frequency domain elastodynamic analysis
too, employing the ‘fast’ methods mentioned,
for nuclear (and more general) NDT
applications.