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Numerical modeling of FBR safety grade decay heat removal system and its validation

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Abstract

A numerical code has been developed for simulating natural circulation based decay heat removal system of a typical pool type sodium cooled fast reactor. The code consists of one-dimensional numerical models of a sodium–sodium shell and tube heat exchanger (DHX) dipped in a pool of sodium, finned tube type sodium to air heat exchanger (AHX), intermediate circuit connecting the two heat exchangers, a tall stack over the AHX and dampers for regulating natural draft air flow through the AHX. The code simulates steady state and transient natural circulation flow development in the DHX primary, intermediate and air circuits following any transients in the source temperature or in the air circuit. The code has been validated against in-house experiments conducted in a 355 kW natural circulation test loop SADHANA under various operating conditions. With the validated code, the performance of decay heat removal system has been evaluated at various source temperatures.

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Abbreviations

a:

s1/d

A:

Heat transfer surface area, m2

b:

s2/d

c p :

Specific heat of fluid, J/kg/K

C:

Heat capacity, J/K

d:

Diameter, m

f:

Darcy coefficient for pressure drop

F:

Weighting factor

g:

Gravitational constant, 9.81, m/s2

h:

Heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2K)

h1 :

Fin height, m

i:

Mesh index

I:

Fluid inertia (L/A), m

j:

Region number

k:

Thermal conductivity, W/(mK)

L:

Length, m

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate, kg/s

N:

Number

Nu:

Nusselt number, \( \frac{hd}{k} \)

Pe:

Peclet number

Pr:

Prandtl number, \( \frac{{\mu C_{p} }}{k} \)

Q:

Mass flow rate, kg/s

R:

Fouling resistance, m2K/W

Re:

Reynolds number

s:

Fin spacing (1/No of fins per meter)

s1 :

Transverse pitch of the tubes, m

s2 :

Longitudinal pitch of the tubes, m

t:

Time, s

T:

Temperature, K

u:

Velocity, m/s

U:

Overall heat transfer coefficient, w/m2K

z:

Height, m

Z:

Number of rows of tubes

ΔPf :

Pressure drop, Pa

ηf :

Fin efficiency

ηf1 :

Effective fin efficiency

ν:

Kinematic viscosity, m2/s

amb:

Ambient air

b:

Bare

f:

Fin

i:

Inner

Na:

Sodium

o:

Outer

p:

Primary side

s:

Secondary side

T:

Tube

w:

Wall

n:

Time index

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CDO Building, Thermal Hydraulics Division, Reactor Design Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamilnadu, 603 102, India

    U. Partha Sarathy & K. Velusamy

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, 600 036, India

    C. Balaji & T. Sudararajan

Authors
  1. U. Partha Sarathy
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  2. C. Balaji
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  3. T. Sudararajan
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  4. K. Velusamy
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Correspondence to U. Partha Sarathy.

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Partha Sarathy, U., Balaji, C., Sudararajan, T. et al. Numerical modeling of FBR safety grade decay heat removal system and its validation. Int J Adv Eng Sci Appl Math 10, 132–145 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12572-018-0212-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12572-018-0212-2

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