Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika

The peer-reviewed scientific and technology journal. ISSN: 0204-3327

Experimental Investigation of the Coolant Flow in the VVER Reactor Core with TVSA Fuel Assemblies

11/19/2020 2020 - #04 Nuclear power plants

Dmitriev S.M. Gerasimov A.V. Dobrov A.A. Doronkov D.V. Pronin A.N. Ryazanov A.V. Solntsev D.N. Khrobostov A.E. Noskov A.S. Samoilov O.B. Shvetsov Yu.K. Shipov D.L.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2020.4.03

UDC: 621.039

The paper presents the results of an experimental study to investigate the interaction of coolant in adjoining fuel assemblies in the VVER reactor core composed of TVSA-T and upgraded TVSA FAs. The processes of the in-core coolant flow were simulated in a test wind tunnel. The experiments were conducted using models representing different portions of the VVER reactor core fuel bundle and consisted in measuring the radial and axial air flow velocities in characteristic zones within the FAs and in the space between them. The results of the experiments can be translated to the full-scale conditions of the coolant flow with the use of the fluid dynamics simulation theory. The measurements were performed using a five-channel pneumometric probe. The coolant flow pattern in different portions of the fuel bundle is represented by distribution diagrams and maps for the radial and axial velocity vector components in the characteristic zones of the models. An analysis for the spatial distribution of the radial and axial velocity vector components has made it possible to obtain a detailed pattern of the coolant flow about the FA spacer, mixing and combined spacer grids of different designs. The accumulated database for the coolant flow in FAs of different designs forms the basis for the engineering justification of the VVER reactor core reliability and serviceability. The investigation results for the interaction of coolant in adjoining TVSA FAs of different designs have been adopted for the practical use at JSC Afrikantov OKB to estimate the heat engineering reliability of the VVER reactor cores and have been included in the database for verification of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes and detailed by-channel calculation codes.

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reactor core fuel assembly spacer grids mixing grids interassembly interaction coolant fluid dynamics

Link for citing the article: Dmitriev S.M., Gerasimov A.V., Dobrov A.A., Doronkov D.V., Pronin A.N., Ryazanov A.V., Solntsev D.N., Khrobostov A.E., Noskov A.S., Samoilov O.B., Shvetsov Yu.K., Shipov D.L. Experimental Investigation of the Coolant Flow in the VVER Reactor Core with TVSA Fuel Assemblies. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2020, no. 4, pp. 25-36; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2020.4.03 (in Russian).

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