A study of 2-Dimensional effects in the core of a PWR during the refloading phase of a LOCA. Analysis of data of PERICLES experiments with the COBRA-NC code

The project is embedded in the Shared Cost Action Programme (SCA) of the European Communities (CEC) on Reactor Safety, Research Area No. 4, concerning the analysis of experimental data on loss-of-coolant accidents and emergency core cooling. The PERICLES experiments, performed at CEA in Grenoble, had the objective to study multidimensional effects under well defined conditions concentrating on the inter-assembly character of reflood phenomena. The general aim of the present project is to analyse PERICLES experimental data in order to improve models in relevant system codes. Particular objectives of the project are - the critical evaluation of the experimental data of PERICLES Run 8; - the drawing of conclusions from the data with respect to physical and geometrical models for the multi-bundle reflood analysis; - the performance of one-and multi-dimensional computations with COBRA-NC; - the comparison of computational and experimental data; and - the development of conclusions and specifications of additional research needed. The analysis of the experimetal data of Run 8 was performed by a computer programme developed for postprocessing data of any PERICLES experiment. The postprocessor includes an automatic location of the quenchfront and displays it graphically with respect to time, vertical and horizontal directions. Furthermore, rod and fluid temperatures versus height, quenchtimes versus height, densities versus height, and temperatures, pressures, densities etc. versus time can be plotted. As far as computer simulations are concerned, it was one of the objectives of the present study to analyse in greater detail the multidimensional phenomena during the reflooding phase of a LOCA and to compare the numerical results with the experimental data. Such simulation may serve to adjust and improve existing computer codes as well as to validate the codes. Moreover, computer simulations are able to give information which are not available from experimental data; in the case considered here, horizontal velocities and crossflows, void fractions etc. are of special interest