Suggestion for the Proper Treatment of Buoyancy Force Effect on Single Phase Thermal Stratification Phenomenon

Abstract

In the operating nuclear power plant, piping and components installed in the in-service testing (IST) systems connected to the reactor coolant system are potentially exposed to fatigue caused by thermal stratification flow, possibly threatening its integrity. The emergency core cooling system (ECCS) is one of candidates for which the thermal stratification phenomenon can occur. During the ECCS operating period, buoyancy due to density difference may have significant influence on thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the mixing flow. Therefore, in this study, the need to consider proper buoyancy models in governing equations, especially turbulent transport equations, for accurate prediction of single phase thermal stratification by ECCS injection was numerically studied using ANSYS CFX R17.2.