Nuclear thermal-hydraulics

Objectives:

  • To be familiarised with various reactor types and their main design and operational characteristics.
  • To learn how to estimate the volumetric heat generation rate in fission reactor cores under normal operation and shutdown conditions.
  • To learn how to analyse the thermal performance of nuclear fuel elements.
  • To learn the basic fluid mechanics of single phase reactor cooling systems.
  • To learn to calculate pressure drop in reactor systems, including tube bundles, and spacer grids.
  • To learn to analyse the heat transfer characteristics of single phase reactor cooling systems.
  • To learn the basic fluid mechanics of two-phase systems, including flow regime maps, void-quality relations, pressure drop, and critical flow.
  • To learn the fundamentals of boiling heat transfer, and its implications for reactor design.
  • To learn the fundamentals of core thermal design, with attention to design uncertainty analysis and hot channel factors.

List of topics

  • reactor heat generation
  • transport equations (single-phase & two-phase flow)
  • thermal analysis of fuel elements
  • (single-phase fluid mechanics and heat transfer)-usually already known
  • two-phase flow dynamics
  • two-phase heat transfer
  • single heated channel; steady state analysis
  • single heated channel; transient analysis
  • flow loops
  • utilisation of established codes

References

Todreas, N.E. and Kazimi, M.S. Nuclear System I: Thermal Hydraulic Fundamentals, Hemisphere Publishing Corp., New York, 1990.
Todreas, N. E. and Kazimi, M.S. Nuclear Systems II: Elements of Thermal Hydraulic Design, Hemisphere Publishing Corp., New York, 1990.
Cumo, M. Impianti Nucleari, UTET,Torino, 1976.

Amplitude and teaching methods:

  • 2 t.m.
  • SCK•CEN guidance for demonstrations with codes