Multidimensional Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis for Decay Heat Exchanger of PGSFR

The decay heat exchanger (DHX) of PGSFR is a shell-and-tube type counter-current flow sodium heat exchanger, and each unit is designed for the rated thermal power of 1.0 MWt, which is corresponding to the nominal design capacity of a single passive decay heat removal system (PDHRS) and active decay heat removal system (ADHRS) loops. The DHX unit is fully immersed in the cold sodium pool region and removes the system heat load sufficiently and reliably during the temperature transient. In this work, a multidimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis for the DHX was carried out numerically and the numerical results were compared with the calculated results of the 1-D DHX design code to verify the reliability of the design code. In addition, an influence of the cold pool sodium which flows into the shell-side of the DHX through the shell outlet was evaluated. The SHXSA code was conservative in calculating the pressure drop of the shell-side which is our major concern in designing the natural circulation of the decay heat removal system. It was revealed that the buffer region is needed to reduce the thermal stress in the lower tubesheet by the inflow of the cold pool sodium