Comparison of Calculated and Experimental Results for a Boiling/Condensing Experimental Facility

A new experimental facility is being developed for materials irradiation and testing at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Details of this facility have been presented before. A prototype of this facility, the Thermosyphon Test Loop (TSTL) has been built, and experimental data have been obtained and analyzed. Pretest calculations for this facility with the RELAP5-3D code have been presented previously as well as other calculations with the TRACE code. The results of both codes were very different. RELAP5-3D predicted much higher pressures and temperatures than TRACE. This paper compares calculated results with the TSTL experimental data. Comparison of calculations with the codes RELAP5-3D and TRACE with experimental data of the new TSTL facility has shown that TRACE results agree well with the data and that RELAP5-3D calculates very high pressures and temperatures. The TRACE code is well suited to model this facility and is being used for future calculations. (authors)