Numerical simulation of thermo-hydraulic and chemical phenomena in heavy liquid metal reactors

    Research output

    51 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Safety is one of the main concerns in nuclear sector. Chemical reaction in lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) coolant may produce solid particles, such oxides, generated by corrosion of steels. Those particles are transported inside the coolant in the main loop of the reactor, leading of narrow channels preventing heat transfer by the LBE coolant. SCK CEN has amassed a solid understanding of the chemical process occurring in LBE throughout time, and this information has been validated during the years. Thanks to this have been possible to develop models for thermos-chemical simulations that are able to take into account different chemical species. CFD models were implemented for the design of equipment for local events. However this kind of codes requires high computational cost and is not possible to use them on personal computers for long-term transient simulations. In this work has been implemented a 1D code, COOL-M code, designed to simulate the thermochemical dynamics of MEXICO loop and the primary system of the MYRRHA (Multi-purpose HYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications). The results show good accuracy and fast convergence for flow and transport calculations by using implicit linearization. Qualitatively good results have been obtained in the verification of the loop.
    Original languageEnglish
    QualificationCivil Engineer
    Awarding Institution
    • POLIMI - Politecnico di Milano
    Supervisors/Advisors
    • Marino, Alessandro, SCK CEN Mentor
    • Tsybanev, Aleksandr, SCK CEN Mentor
    • Mariani, Mario, Supervisor, External person
    Date of Award9 Mar 2020
    Publisher
    StatePublished - 9 Jul 2023

    Cite this