Sizing of a tube inlet orifice of a once-through steam generator to suppress the parallel channel instability

Abstract

Sizing the tube inlet orifice of a Once-Through Steam Generator (OTSG) is important to protect the integrity of the tubes from thermal cycling and vibration wear. In this study, a new sizing criterion is proposed for the tube inlet orifice to suppress the parallel channel instability in an OTSG. A perturbation method is used to capture the essential parts of the thermal-hydraulic phenomena of the parallel channel instability. The perturbation model of the heat transfer regime boundaries is identified as a missing part in existing models for sizing the OTSG tube inlet orifice. Limitations and deficiency of the existing models are identified and the reasons for the limitations are explained. The newly proposed model can be utilized to size the tube inlet orifice to suppress the parallel channel instability without excessive engineering margin.

Keywords

• Once-through steam generator (OTSG)
• Parallel channel instability
• Stability threshold
• Orifice
• Perturbation method