Performance analysis of primary system coolant pump for advanced power reactor

The Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) is an evolutionary pressurized water reactor (PWR) with a thermal output of 4000 MW. APR1400 has four reactor coolant pumps (RCPs). The pump assemblies circulate the reactor coolant from two steam generators to the reactor vessel and back to the steam generators. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is applied to analyze a three-dimensional (3D) flow field within the RCP. Analysis is based on such data as the flow rate, head, pressure and rotational velocity of the RCP. Analysis is performed by comparing the CFD results from operating conditions against those from the RCP design conditions. This 3D numerical simulation is aimed at checking on the performance of a single-stage pump. The pump model for analyzing the characteristics of the RCP is a mixed-flow type and simply consists of the 6 impellers and 11 diffusers. The data from this study can be used for pump design and validation of the CFD codes. This study has relied on such basic design parameters in APR1400 as the pressure, temperature and material properties. For reliable results of the pump performance, more accurate and various data are needed about the RCP operation. (author)