Scaling Design of the Pressure Response Experimental Facility for Pressure Suppression Containment

• Main Authors: Xinxing Liu, Zhaoming Meng, Nan Zhang, Zhongning Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-09-01
• Series: Frontiers in Earth Science
• Subjects: pressure suppression containment; scaling experiment; pressure response; MELCOR; pipe resistance
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenrg.2020.524445/full

Pressure suppression containment has been adopted extensively in boiling water reactor design due to its remarkable pressure suppression capacity. To study the pressure response characteristics of the containment in the initial stage of the loss-of-coolant accident, it is necessary to build a scaling facility to simulate the prototype. Analysis of the steam mass and energy that are released from the break as well as of the steam condensation that occurs in the suppression pool is conducted, respectively, for the prototype pressurized water reactor. The suppression pipe system resistance is also scaled with a certain ratio. The length and diameter of the main pipe and the branch pipe as well as the orifice diameter are calculated. At last, the prototype and the experimental facility are modeled by MELCOR to analyze the steam mass and energy release. The results show that the containment pressure evolution trends of the prototype and the scaled experimental facility are consistent. The pressure difference exists at some times, with a maximum relative error of 4%.