A Moving Boundary Analysis for Start-Up Performance of a Nuclear Steam Generator

Abstract

Thermohydraulic phenomena of a steam-water natural-circulation (SWNC) system are very complicated, particularly, during its start-up and shutdown. Its performance strongly depends on the circulation inside it. Accurate quantification of the flow, void fraction, two-phase level, boiling boundary, etc., is difficult at both steady state and transient states like load variation, start-up, and shutdown. Attempts have been made to develop a high-fidelity thermohydraulic model (five-equation scheme) that caters to nonhomogeneous and thermal nonequilibrium flow to derive the dynamic effect of heating rate on the performance of the SWNC loop of steam generator of an Indian nuclear reactor during steaming-up period. The proposed work also attempts to predict boiling height, flow reversal, and density-wave oscillation (DWO). The boiling channel of the SWNC loop is modeled based on the moving boundary analysis using finite volume method. In this moving boundary problem, both control volumes of single-phase zone and two-phase zone change with time. Numerical results have been presented in this paper. The results indicate that both circulation flow variation and two-phase level variation in steam drum have strong dependency on void fraction in the boiling channel. Flow-reversal phenomenon is identified during the initial stage of boiling. Two-phase swelling and collapse that occur during the start-up are predicted. Above a critical heating rate, DWO has been observed. All these phenomena have been explained.