Baffle Jetting Modelling for Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

Nuclear power is an indispensable energy source all over the world. It is well known that nuclear energy is an effective contributor to reduce greenhouse effect gases emissions. However, in recent years, several incidents were reported related to baffle jetting in nuclear reactors. In a nuclear power plant, the baffle jetting phenomenon exists in the reactor pressure vessel with cross-flow configuration. The flow direction in the bottom part of the core barrel is of a combined axial and cross flow directions. The coolant flow impingement onto the fuel rods may induce rod vibration that can lead to fuel rod damage. Modelling baffle jetting induced vibrations of fuel rods is still a challenge. The present study aims to investigate the phenomena of baffle jetting in detail in the reactor pressure vessel. Numerical simulations were carried out using URANS method. The flow field in the core baffle was simulated for realistic reactor conditions. The present report is outlined as follows: Introduction, Numerical method, Test cases and computational details, Results and discussion, and conclusions and future work.

Date of Award	Jul 2022
Original language	American English