COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PATTERNS OF COOLANT FLOW IN THE MIXED CORE OF A VVER REACTOR

The paper presents the results of investigations into the hydrodynamics of a three-dimensional coolant fl ow motion in the mixed core of a VVER (a.k.a. WWER or PWR) reactor. The experiments were conducted on an aerodynamic research facility test bench with scaled models of core fragments. An investigation has been made into the patterns of the coolant fl ow motion by experimental fi nding of the velocity vector. Measurement of the fl ow pressure fi eld was conducted with a fi ve-channel pneumometric (pressure-tube) probe and was then recalculated and converted into the direction and value of the velocity. To obtain a detailed pattern of a three-dimensional coolant fl ow motion, the most representative region of the models′ cross section including the space between the fuel (fuel rod bundles) and four rows of fuel elements of each of the adjacent fuel assemblies was identifi ed and investigated. The general pattern of the coolant fl ow is represented by plots of transverse velocity distribution as a function of a relative coordinate and by cartograms of axial velocity distribution. An analysis of the spatial distribution of the fl ow velocity projections in characteristic regions of the model made it possible to identify the patterns of the coolant fl ow around hydraulically nonidentical intensifi er grids
   
Author:  S. M. Dmitriev, A. A. Dobrov, D. V. Doronkov, D. S. Doronkova, M. A. Legchanov, A. N. Pronin, E. V. Rubtsova, A. V. Ryazanov, A. E. Khrobostov, Yu. K. Shvetsov, D. L. Shipov
Keywords:  reactor core, fuel assembly, separation (spacer) grids, intensifi er grids, fl ow defl ectors, coolant hydrodynamics
Page:  1042