By

SAIKAT DAS (EXAM ROLL NO.110510012)

SANJOY DUTTA (EXAM ROLL NO.110510017)

Under The Guidance of

D.N.BASU,
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur
 Introduction
 Simplified BWRs
 LOCA- Loss of coolant refrigerant accident
 Start-up phase and flashing phenomenon
 Void-fraction
 Analysis
 Conclusion
 References
 The term flashing refers to the generation of vapour due to the
decrease of hydrostatic pressure along the flow path, when the
coolant reaches its boiling temperature while flowing upwards
through a heater and a riser section.

 This effect influences especially the thermo-hydraulic

behaviour of natural circulation loops with long riser at
pressures below 2 Mpa.

 In this range phenomena of flashing becomes important .

 Flashing improves the natural circulation and the heat transfer.

 Flashing is the process of void production by the temperature of the

fluid reaches its local saturation value and vaporizes .

 The void production by flashing in the adiabatic riser section

enhances the driving head and therefore mass flow rate increases.

 Flashing plays an important role in the start-up procedure of natural

circulation BWR.

 It can induce mass flow instabilities due to gravitational pressure

drop and it can also drive the natural circulation flow in a loop at
stable two-phase flow conditions.
 Among the natural-circulation BWRs, the 1.190 MWe
ESBWR (European Simplified Boiling Water Reactor) [1] is
the most promising candidate.

 The pressure vessel of the ESBWR

has a diameter of about 7m and
height of approximately 25m.

 To enhance the flow rate long

adiabatic pipe(riser or chimney)
is incorporated in the system.

 FIG1-Scheme of a typical natural circulation BWR

 At nominal conditions the flow rate is lower with respect to
forced circulation BWRs.

 When operated under natural circulation conditions with

partitioned riser and shortest core, it is possible to achieve an
average flow rate higher than that a forced circulation BWR .

 The large RPV(reactor pressure vessel) volume provides a

large reservoir of water above the core which prevent loss of
coolant refrigerant accident (LOCA).
 A loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) is a mode of failure for a
nuclear reactor caused by loss of feed-water due to failures of
the recirculation piping .

 The interaction of pressure decreasing and bubbles producing

caused by flashing is the main reason of the flow oscillation
which leads to to failures of the recirculation piping .

 LOCA occurring at the upper plenum in a natural circulation

loop.

 Russian RBMK and the Canadian CANDU are the two

examples of LOCA.
 Flashing refers to steam production that takes place without
the need of an external heat source.

 Steam production occurs due to super-

heating of liquid phase.

 Flashing (steam production) occurs

when coolant reaches saturation
conditions in the adiabatic section.

Fig. 2. Flashing in the riser section.

 The steam production in the adiabatic section causes an
increase of flow rate which in turn will lead to a decrease of
the coolant temperature.

 If the coolant temperature drops

below saturation, flashing is
suppressed and the flow rate
decreases.

 Saturation temp decreases

considerably along vertical
axis when the system operates
at low pressure . Fig. 3-Flashing in dynamic conditions.
 At start-up conditions both system pressure and heating power
are low.
 The low system pressure implies large differences in
saturation temperature between the inlet and the outlet of the
adiabatic section.
 At low powers the coolant, which is heated up in the heated
section of the natural circulation loop.
 Due to the strong variation of saturation temperature along the
system, flashing can occur in the adiabatic section leading to
an enhancement of the natural circulation flow rate.
 In dynamic conditions this phenomenon can cause self-
sustained flow oscillations.
 If the temperature of the coolant entering the adiabatic section
is high enough, flashing takes place.

 The occurrence of flashing will cause a decrease of the

pressure below the location of bubbles formation.

 The increase of flow rate will cause a subsequent decrease of

the coolant temperature entering the adiabatic section, so that
the process of flashing may eventually stop and the flow rate
will be low.
 The fraction is one of the most important parameters used to
characterize two-phase flows.

 It is the physical value for determining numerous other

important parameters, such as the two-phase density and two-
phase viscosity, for obtaining the average velocity of the two-
phases, and is of fundamental importance in models for
predicting flow pattern transitions, heat transfer and pressure
drop.
Drum Xh Void fraction Xd Void fraction
pressure ( αh ) ( αd)
(bar)

70 0.2448 0.7047 0.2467 0.7087

30 0.17588 0.75102 0.1781774 0.753958
10 0.1318 0.81614 0.139 0.8324
4 0.15383 0.89497 0.2165 0.93603
2 0.14711 0.921704 0.233058 0.95400161
Void fraction vs drum pressure
 In this project we study the effect of flashing in natural
circulation loop.
 Our main object is to increase the quality of the steam or
void fraction by reducing the drum pressure.
 we study the void fraction/ quality of steam at 70,30,10,20
and 2 bar drum pressure. The table shown above proves the
fact that quality of steam increases with the decrease of drum
pressure.
1. U. ROHDE, “Ein teoretisches Modell fur Zweiphasen-
stromungen inwassergekulthen Kernreaktoren und seine
Anwendung zur Analyse des Naturumlaufs im Heizreaktor
AST-500”, Ph.D. dissertation, Akademie der Wissenschaften
der DDR, Dresden (1986).

2. A. MANERA, T.H.J.J. VAN DER HAGEN, 2002, “Stability

of naturalcirculation- cooled Boiling Water Reactor during
Startup: Experimental Results”, Nuclear Technology, 143
(2003).

3. www.wikipedia.com