Abstract
The external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is well known strategy to mitigate a severe accident at which nuclear fuel inside the reactor vessel is molten. In order to compare the heat removal capacity of ERVC between the nuclear reactor designs quantitatively, numerical method is often used. However, the study for ERVC using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is still quite scarce. As a validation study on the numerical prediction for ERVC using CFD, the subcooled boiling flow and natural circulation of coolant at the ULPU-V experiment was simulated. The commercially available CFD software ANSYS-CFX was used. Shear stress transport (SST) model and RPI model were used for turbulence closure and wall-boiling, respectively. The averaged flow velocities in the downcomer and the baffle entry under the reactor vessel lower plenum are in good agreement with the available experimental data and recent computational results. Steam generated from the heated wall condenses rapidly and coolant flows maintains single-phase flow until coolant boils again by flashing process due to the decrease of saturation temperature induced by higher elevation. Hence, the flow rate of coolant natural circulation does not vary significantly with the change of heat flux applied at the reactor vessel, which is also consistent with the previous literatures.
