A study on thermo-hydraulic instability of boiling natural circulation loop with a chimney. A consideration of the effect of axial higher mode

Thermo-hydraulic instabilities of a boiling natural circulation loop with a chimney under low and high pressure were investigated using linear stability analysis. The effect of nuclear coupling was also considered. Both in low- and high-pressure conditions, instability could occur when exit quality was relatively low. In low-pressure condition, flashing only near the exit of the chimney could induce instability, and enthalpy wave of single-phase flow was generated in the chimney. In high-pressure condition, void was generated near channel exit, and void wave propagated in the chimney. In the high pressure and high power condition, though flow could by very stable, the decay ratio of higher mode could be larger than that of lower mode. The sensitivity on decay ratio to the thermal power, inlet subcooling, void reactivity feedback coefficient and so on could be very low when there was a long chimney. (author)