Experimental and numerical thermal-hydraulics study of a steam-droplets flow in a venturi-type vertical tube with flow deviation -application to LOCA in PWR reactor

Juan Esteban Luna Valencia (1, 2) , Arthur V S Oliveira (2) , Alexandre Labergue (2) , Tony Glantz (1) , Michel Gradeck (2)

1 IRSN/PSN-RES/SEMIA/LEMC - Laboratoire d'étude et de modélisation du combustible
2 LEMTA - Laboratoire d'Energétique et Mécanique Théorique et Appliquée

During reflooding after a hypothetical loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), a flow of steam and dispersed droplets forms and propagates in the assemblies. During the accident, rods can be deformed and ballooned, thus reducing the hydraulic diameter of some sub-channels. In this scenario, the rods' cooling may be affected since the steam will be diverted to less blocked sub-channels. For security reasons, the characterization of heat transfers in these areas is important to know in order to well evaluate the consequences of such an accident (meltdown of the core). This study is dedicated to the estimation of heat and mass transfers in these blocked zones

Mots clés: LOCA; Nuclear reactor; Clad ballooning; Thermal-hydraulics; Steam deviation

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Juan Esteban Luna Valencia, Arthur V S Oliveira, Alexandre Labergue, Tony Glantz, Michel Gradeck. Experimental and numerical thermal-hydraulics study of a steam-droplets flow in a venturi-type vertical tube with flow deviation -application to LOCA in PWR reactor. 11th International Conference on Multiphase Flow, Kobe University, Apr 2023, Kobe, Japan. ⟨hal-04415711⟩