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Nuclear thermal hydraulics

Prof. Yann Bartosiewicz – UCLouvain

5 ECTS

145 hours study time


  • 31 contact hours theory
  • 20 contact hours exercises/laboratory sessions/visits
  • 22 contact hours personal work

    • To learn how to estimate the volumetric heat generation rate in fission reactor cores under normal
      operation and shutdown conditions
    • To learn how to analyze 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 analyze the heat transfer characteristics of single-phase reactor cooling systems
    • To learn the basic fluid mechanics of two-phase systems, including modelling approaches, flow regime
      maps, void-quality relations, and pressure drop evaluation
    • To learn the fundamentals of boiling heat transfer, and its implications for reactor design
    • To learn the fundamentals of core thermal design, e.g. flow rate/pressure drop relation under different
      conditions (friction dominated/gravity dominated) for the evaluation of cooling performances

    In addition of supervised exercises, a mini-project is organized about modelling and computing pressure
    drop in a boiling channel (different conditions and assumptions may be treated over the years).

    • Thermal design principles/reactor heat generation
    • Reminders about single phase transport equations (prerequisite)
    • Two-phase flow models, transport equations
    • Thermodynamic (vessels/pressurizer) and power conversion cycle (steam)
    • Heat transfer analysis in a fuel element
    • Reminders about single phase fluid mechanics and heat transfer (prerequisite)
    • Two-phase fluid mechanics and pressure drops
    • Two-phase heat transfer (pool boiling, flow boiling)
    • Single heated channel (thermal and flow problems)
  • The PowerPoint presentations of the lectures, and additional lecture notes, are available on the BNEN website.
    Some lectures are pre-recorded and available on a special data transfer environment. It can be asked to students to watch/study some recorded lectures as a prerequisite before the start of the course.

    Other useful references:

    • Todreas, N.E. and Kazimi, M.S. Nuclear System I: Thermal Hydraulic Fundamentals, Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, 2012.
    • A relevant course about introduction to nuclear energy
    • Fundamentals of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics
    • Continuum mechanics
  • 11/20 is made of the exercise part of the exam plus mini project.
    9/20 is made of the theoretical part of the exam.
    The exercise part of the exam is open book, while the theoretical part is closed book.

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