Three dimensional computational fluid dynamic analysis of debris transport under emergency cooling water recirculation

This paper provides a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis method on the evaluation of debris transport under emergency recirculation mode after loss of coolant accident of a nuclear power plant. Three dimensional reactor building floor geometrical model is constructed including flow obstacles larger than 6 inches such as mechanical components and equipments and considering various inlet flow paths from the upper reactor building such as break and spray flow. In the modeling of the inlet flows from the upper floors, effect of gravitational force was also reflected. For the precision of the analysis, 3 millions of tetrahedral-shaped meshes were generated. Reference calculation showed physically reasonable results. Sensitivity studies for mesh type and turbulence model showed very similar results to the reference case. This study provides useful information on the application of CFD to the evaluation of debris transport fraction for the design of new emergency sump filters. (orig.)