Effects of water chemistry on flow accelerated corrosion and liquid droplet impingement

Overlapping effects of flow dynamics and corrosion are important issues to determine reliability and lifetime of major structures and components in light water reactor plants. Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) and liquid droplet impingement (LDI) are typical phenomena due to both interactions. In order to evaluation local wall thinning due to FAC and LDI, 6 step evaluation procedures have been proposed. (1) Flow pattern along the flow path was obtained with 1D computational flow dynamics (CFD) codes, (2) Corrosive conditions, e.g., oxygen concentration along the flow path were calculated with a hydrazine oxygen reaction code for FAC evaluation, while flow pattern of liquid droplets in high velocity steam and possibility of their collision to pipe inner surface were evaluated for LDI evaluation. (3) Mass transfer coefficient at the structure surface was calculated with 3D CFD codes for FAC evaluation, while frequency of oxide film rupture due to droplet collision was calculated for LDI evaluation. (4) High risk zones for FAC/LDI occurrence were evaluated by coupling major parameters, and then, (5) Wall thinning rates were calculated with the coupled model of static electrochemical analysis and dynamic double oxide layer analysis at the identified high FAC/LDI risk zone. (author)