Space-dependent kinetics simulation of a gas-cooled fluidized bed nuclear reactor

Pain, Christopher C.; Gomes, Jefferson L. M. A.; Eaton, M.D.; Oliveira, C.R.E. de; Umpleby, A.; Goddard, A.J.H.; Dam, H. van; Hagen, T.H.J.J. van der; Lathouwers, D.

doi:10.1016/s0029-5493(02)00215-7

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A secondary aim (other than investigating the dynamics of this reactor) of this paper is to investigate the numerical convergence in space and direction of angle of neutron travel of a conceptual 2D and 3D nuclear fluidized bed reactor. This will help demonstrate the robustness of the numerical techniques introduced by Pain et al (2003b) (Pain et al, 2002b). These new numerical techniques are globally high order accurate in space and time and may be used to resolve detailed spatially evolving fields in a coupled high-resolution multiphase-flow and neutron-radiation dynamics in nuclear fluidized bed reactors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…fluid/structure interactions and fluids/radiation. The latter, the focus of the applications in this paper, include radiation fluids applications from the atmosphere (fluids and cloud radiation), exchanges in stars, thermal radiation resulting from combustion problems (Kunii and Levenspiel, 1991), and coupled neutron radiation and fluids problems for reactivity assessment in fissile solutions (Pain et al, 1998a(Pain et al, , b, 2001b, nuclear reactors (Sefidvash, 1996) including the novel thermal nuclear reactor studied here (Pain et al, 2002b(Pain et al, , 2003aGolovko et al, 2000c).…”

Section: A Model Of Heat Transfer Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The graphite at the top and bottom of the reactor is porous. This porous graphite is a new design feature over previous design (Pain et al, 2002b) which enables the reactor to be more sub-critical in the collapsed bed state and also provides a flatter reactivity (K eff ) curve versus uniformly expanded bed height. The reactivity of the system, measured by the eigen-value K eff , is the ratio of the number of neutrons generated from one neutron generation to the next.…”

Section: D Numerical Simulations[1] Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A model of heat transfer dynamics of coupled multiphase‐flow and neutron‐radiation

Pain

Gomes

Oliveira

et al. 2005

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat &Amp; Fluid Flow

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose -To present dynamical analysis of axisymmetric and three-dimensional (3D) simulations of a nuclear fluidized bed reactor. Also to determine the root cause of reactor power fluctuations. Design/methodology/approach -We have used a coupled neutron radiation (in full phase space) and high resolution multiphase gas-solid Eulerian-Eulerian model. Findings -The reactor can take over 5 min after start up to establish a quasi-steady-state and the mechanism for the long term oscillations of power have been established as a heat loss/generation mechanism. There is a clear need to parameterize the temperature of the reactor and, therefore, its power output for a given fissile mass or reactivity. The fission-power fluctuates by an order of magnitude with a frequency of 0.5-2 Hz. However, the thermal power output from gases is fairly steady.Research limitation/implications -The applications demonstrate that a simple surrogate of a complex model of a nuclear fluidised bed can have a predictive ability and has similar statistics to the more complex model. Practical implications -This work can be used to analyze chaotic systems and also how the power is sensitive to fluctuations in key regions of the reactor. Originality/value -The work presents the first 3D model of a nuclear fluidised bed reactor and demonstrates the value of numerical methods for modelling new and existing nuclear reactors.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: A Model Of Heat Transfer Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: D Numerical Simulations[1] Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A model of heat transfer dynamics of coupled multiphase‐flow and neutron‐radiation

Pain

Gomes

Oliveira

et al. 2005

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat &Amp; Fluid Flow

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fluctuations of the power output as a result of spatial and temporal variations of the fluidized bed porosity are reported (6) . Pain et al (7) showed, however, that due to the slow neutron kinetics of the reactor -a consequence of the long neutron lifetime / large scattering cross sections -the amplitude of the power fluctuations is expected to be small. The power generation in conventional fluidized bed nuclear reactors is limited by the heat transfer capacity of the fluidization gas (5) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives for Fluidized Bed Nuclear Reactor Technology using Rotating Fluidized Beds in a Static Geometry

Broqueville¹,

Wilde

2008

JPES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The new concept of a rotating fluidized bed in a static geometry opens perspectives for fluidized bed nuclear reactor technology and is experimentally and numerically investigated. With conventional fluidized bed technology, the maximum attainable power is rather limited and maximum at a certain fluidization gas flow rate. Using a rotating fluidized bed in a static geometry, the fluidization gas drives both the centrifugal force and the counteracting radial gas-solid drag force in a similar way. This allows operating the reactor at any chosen sufficiently high solids loading over a much wider fluidization gas flow rate range and in particular at much higher fluidization gas flow rates than with conventional fluidized bed reactor technology, offering increased flexibility with respect to cooling via the fluidization gas. Furthermore, the centrifugal force can be a multiple of earth gravity, allowing radial gas-solid slip velocities much higher than in conventional fluidized beds. The latter result in gas-solid heat transfer coefficients one or multiple orders of magnitude higher than in conventional fluidized beds. The combination of dense operation and high fluidization gas flow rates allows process intensification and a more compact reactor design.

show abstract

“…Effects of mixing state of the MOX powder and an additive powder, which were loaded into an inverted corn type vessel, on nuclear criticality were investigated in the paper. Pain et al 2) developed the FETCH code, a coupled neutronics/multi-phase computational dynamics code, and carried out transient criticality evaluations for a conceptual helium-cooled fluidized bed thermal reactor by using a Two Fluid Model for a granular flow. The scheme coupling a granular model with a criticality calculation code makes it possible to perform the criticality evaluation considering the particle dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Nuclear Fuel Particle Movement on Nuclear Criticality in a Rotating Cylindrical Vessel

Sakai

Shibata

Koshizuka

2005

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In conventional criticality safety evaluations of nuclear facilities, nuclear fuel particle behavior could not be considered because any appropriate computational tools did not be developed. A new criticality evaluation tool, which can consider the particle behavior, is developed by coupling a Discrete Element Method with a continuous energy Monte Carlo type code. Criticality evaluations considering the nuclear particle movement in a rotating cylindrical tank are performed by applying this tool. Effects of the powder-filling ratio and the rotating speed on nuclear criticality are investigated in the present study. The nuclear powder free surface is fluctuated more remarkably as the filling ratio and the rotating speed are higher. The fluctuation makes the effective multiplication factor lower because of neutron leakage from the system by the increase of the superficial area and reduction of the atomic number densities due to the flowability.

show abstract

Space-dependent kinetics simulation of a gas-cooled fluidized bed nuclear reactor

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

A model of heat transfer dynamics of coupled multiphase‐flow and neutron‐radiation

A model of heat transfer dynamics of coupled multiphase‐flow and neutron‐radiation

Perspectives for Fluidized Bed Nuclear Reactor Technology using Rotating Fluidized Beds in a Static Geometry

Effect of Nuclear Fuel Particle Movement on Nuclear Criticality in a Rotating Cylindrical Vessel

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About