CHARACTERISTICS OF DOWNCOMER BOILING PHENOMENA DURING THE REFLOOD PHASE OF A POSTULATED LARGE BREAK LOCA FOR THE APR1400

摘要

Downcomer boiling phenomena in a conventional pressurized water reactor have an important effect on the transient behavior of a postulated large-break LOCA (LBLOCA), because it can degrade the hydraulic head of the coolant in the downcomer and consequently affect the reflood flow rate for a core cooling. To investigate the thermal hydraulic behavior in the downcomer region, a test program for a downcomer boiling is being progressed in the reflood phase of a postulated LBLOCA. For this, the test facility was designed as a one side heated rectangular test section which adopts a full-pressure, full-height, and full-size downcomer-gap approach, but with the circumferential length reduced 47.08-fold. The test was performed by dividing it into two-phases: (Ⅰ) visual observation and acquisition of the global two-phase flow parameters and (Ⅱ) measurement of the local two-phase flow parameters on the measuring planes along five elevations. In the present paper, the test results of Phase-Ⅰ and parts of Phase-Ⅱ were introduced.