CHF and flow instability in rod bundles

Data for two very different rod bundles have been analyzed using a new CHF correlation and a crude, but simple, subchannel analysis. The CHF correlation was developed for round uniform tubes and has been shown to accurately predict CHF in nonuniform tubes. The first set of data was for a KWU rod bundle (37 rods) with a heated length of 3.00 m and an O.D. (outside diameter) of 12.9 mm over a range of pressure 70 to 150 bar in upflow. The second set of data was for a 5 x 5 TRIGA rod bundle with a heated length of 0.559 m and 13.75 mm O.D. over a range of pressure of 0.945 to 1.372 bar in downflow. In contrast to the KWU data, the correlation greatly over estimates the CHF values for the TRIGA data. The TRIGA CHF data correlate very well with the variable qsat assuming no mixing, qc,exp = 0.955qsat (stdev = 9.87%). This result strongly suggests that these instabilities, which resulted immediately in CHF, are triggered by the Onset of Flow Instability (OFI) rather than CHF. The wide spread in rod power factors, the low pressure, and the downflow condition all contribute to promoting this type of instability (Ledinegg). The crude subchannel analysis has been compared with calculations of exit conditions of the hot channel using COBRA code. The agreement is fair when the homogeneous equilibrium model is used in the COBRA code. This is expected since the exit of the hot channel is always subcooled. Using Zuber's, along with other, void fraction relations in COBRA yields much lower exit velocities and high positive exit qualities, and, in some cases, convergence difficulties arise. The facts indicate that the bundle has already past the OFI point: which is possible since no CHF calculation was made in these COBRA analyses. (J.P.N)