CFD analyses of the rod bowing effect on the subchannel outlet temperature distribution

Abstract

In the Loviisa 1 and 2 nuclear power plants the subcooling margin of the hottest subchannel of the fuel assembly is monitored. The temperature of the coolant in the hottest subchannel is limited to the constant saturation temperature. Bending of the fuel rods occurs during normal operation due to the differences in the heat profiles of the rods. The coolant temperature will rise more in the subchannel with smaller flow area due to the bending and this has to be taken into account in the safety margin of subchannel enthalpy rise. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to estimate how much the estimated maximum bow of a rod affects the temperature rise of the subchannel. The quantitative uncertainty of the predicted enthalpy rise in fuel bundle subchannel is estimated based on the uncertainty of modelling of mixing between subchannels. The measured turbulence quantities from LDA measurements of cold test assembly made in 1990s in Fortum are compared with CFD results to give uncertainty estimation for turbulence, which is further used for uncertainty estimation of mixing and simulated subchannel enthalpy rise.