Pressure Oscillations in a Water-Cooled Nuclear Reactor Induced by Water-Hammer Waves

Abstract

Shutdown of the Babcock & Wilcox nuclear reactor water coolant pumps will cause check valves to close which will induce the generation of water hammer in the system. The magnitude, frequency, and duration of possible pressure oscillations in the pipeline and the discharge of the pressure oscillations into the attached plenum chamber were evaluated. Although the plenum chamber contains a great number of suspended rods, it was possible to establish the upper bound for the pressure loading across the internal structure of the plenum chamber at various stations for determination of design criteria.