atw 2018-04v6
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>atw</strong> Vol. 63 (<strong>2018</strong>) | Issue 4 ı April<br />
238<br />
ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY<br />
CFD Modeling and Simulation<br />
of Heat and Mass Transfer in<br />
Passive Heat Removal Systems<br />
Amirhosein Moonesi, Shabestary, Eckhard Krepper and Dirk Lucas<br />
This paper is presenting the CFD-modelling and simulation of condensation inside passive heat removal systems.<br />
Designs of future nuclear boiling water reactor concepts are equipped with emergency cooling systems which are<br />
passive systems for heat removal. The emergency cooling system consists of slightly inclined horizontal pipes which are<br />
immersed in a tank of subcooled water. At normal operation conditions, the pipes are filled with water and no heat<br />
transfer to the secondary side of the condenser occurs. In the case of some accident scenarios the water level may<br />
decrease in the core, steam enters the emergency pipes and due to the subcooled water around the pipe, this steam<br />
condenses. The emergency condenser acts as a strong heat sink which is responsible for a quick depressurization of the<br />
reactor core. This procedure acts passive i.e. without any additional external measures. The actual project is defined to<br />
model the phenomena which are occurring inside the emergency condensers. The focus of the project is on detection of<br />
different morphologies such as annular flow, stratified flow, slug flow and plug flow and also modeling of the laminar<br />
film which is occurring during the condensation near the wall.<br />
The condensation procedure inside the<br />
pipe is determined by two important<br />
phenomena. The first one is wall<br />
condensation and the second one is the<br />
direct contact condensation (DCC).<br />
The Algebraic Interfacial Area Density<br />
(AIAD) concept is used in order to<br />
model the interface between liquid<br />
and steam. In the next steps the Generalized<br />
Two-Phase Flow ( GENTOP)<br />
model will be used to model also the<br />
dispersed phases which are occurring<br />
inside the pipe. Finally, the results of<br />
the simulations will be validated by<br />
experimental data which will be available<br />
in HZDR. In this paper the results<br />
of the first part are presented.<br />
1 Introduction<br />
Condensation plays a crucial role in<br />
the emergency condenser of passive<br />
heat removal systems of nuclear power<br />
plants. Passive safety systems do not<br />
need any external power supplies and<br />
they mostly depend on physical phenomena<br />
such as natural circulation<br />
and gravity driven flows. In order to<br />
assess the performance of passive safety<br />
systems and their efficiency mostly<br />
one-dimensional codes are used such<br />
as ATHLET, RELAP and TRACE. These<br />
codes are able to calculate most of the<br />
phe nomena in power plants; however,<br />
they cannot reflect the 3D phenomena.<br />
Therefore, Computational Fluid<br />
Dynamics (CFD) methods should be<br />
used to simulate and predict the<br />
complex multiphase flow structure.<br />
Despite the previous research being<br />
done on the two-phase flow behavior,<br />
this phenomenon needs much more<br />
investigations. The two-phase flow<br />
patterns and transition between vapor<br />
and liquid are studied by Thome and<br />
Hajal et al. [1, 2]. They introduced a<br />
logarithmic mean void fraction (LMe)<br />
method in order to calculate the vapor<br />
void fractions which change from the<br />
low pressure up to the critical pressure<br />
point. Moreover, they proposed a new<br />
heat transfer model based on the same<br />
simplified flow structures that have<br />
been used in the flow boiling model<br />
of Kattan et al. [3]. The model can<br />
predict the local condensation heat<br />
transfer coefficient for different flow<br />
regimes such as annular, intermittent,<br />
stratified-wavy fully stratified and<br />
wavy flow.<br />
Many attempts have been done to<br />
investigate the mass transfer between<br />
liquid and gas phase in condensation.<br />
Lee et al. [4] introduced a model for<br />
prediction of the mass transfer. They<br />
assumed that the interface between<br />
liquid and steam is on saturation<br />
temperature and introduced an<br />
iterative technique in order to reach to<br />
desired boundary condition inside<br />
each cell. This model depends on a<br />
relaxation factor which needs to be<br />
tuned. The tuning needs many trial<br />
and error simulations which is<br />
time-consuming and doesn’t have any<br />
predictive capabilities.<br />
Moreover, there are empirical or<br />
semi-empirical methods to calculate<br />
the mass transfer in the interface.<br />
Strubelj et al. [5] by using ANSYS CFX<br />
and NEPTUNE_CFD [6] code tried to<br />
simulate Direct Contact Condensation<br />
(DCC) in stratified flows. In DCC the<br />
phase change occurs due to the direct<br />
contact interaction of subcooled water<br />
and saturated steam. The defined<br />
phase change mass flux depends on<br />
thermal conductivity of the liquid and<br />
Nusselt number of the liquid. The<br />
Nusselt number was calculated<br />
by Coste et al. [7] based on Surface<br />
Renewal Theory (SRT) [8]. The SRT<br />
theory calculates the mass transfer<br />
according to the renewal period of<br />
eddies and the liquid turbulent<br />
properties. Hughes and Duffey [9]<br />
used the surface renewal theory and<br />
the Kolmogorov turbulent length<br />
scale theory to define a correlation for<br />
the heat transfer coefficient. They<br />
considered that the heat removal from<br />
interface occurs by smallest turbulent<br />
scales. This model will be introduced<br />
more detailed in the next sections.<br />
This correlation is validated for<br />
Pressurized Thermal Schock (PTS)<br />
phenomenon by Egorov [10] and<br />
Apanasevich [11]. Further to Hughes<br />
correlation, Shen et al. [12] developed<br />
another correlation for calculation of<br />
heat transfer coefficient based on the<br />
surface renewal theory. Ceuca et al.<br />
[13] used both of these correlations<br />
in order to simulate the direct contact<br />
condensation for the LAOKOON<br />
facility [14]. By comparison of Hughes<br />
and Duffey correlation with Shen<br />
correlation, Ceuca et al. [13] concluded<br />
that both of the models provide<br />
accurate results for the horizontal<br />
stratified quasi-steady state.<br />
Evidently, many attempts have been<br />
done in the modeling of con densation<br />
inside the pipes. The goal of the current<br />
work is modeling of the transition<br />
between different mor phologies which<br />
are occurring during the condensation<br />
inside the pipe ( Figure 1). In order to<br />
do that, several CFD models such as<br />
IMUSIG, AIAD and GENTOP which<br />
have been developed in HZDR in cooperation<br />
with ANSYS are available. The<br />
Inhomo geneous MUSIG model considers<br />
the bubble size distribution and<br />
is used for modeling the small-scaled<br />
dispersed gas phase [15]. The AIAD<br />
Environment and Safety<br />
CFD Modeling and Simulation of Heat and Mass Transfer in Passive Heat Removal Systems<br />
ı Amirhosein Moonesi, Shabestary, Eckhard Krepper and Dirk Lucas