Deposit models for tube support plate flow blockage in Steam Generators

Corrosion product deposits in the secondary side of nuclear power plant Steam Generators may result in Tube Support Plate flow blockage, and tube fouling. In order to simulate those two phenomena in the whole Steam Generator, a solid deposit growth model has been developed by the EDF R&D Division. This model is implemented in the frame of THYC, which is the EDF's reference code for the modeling of two-phase thermal-hydraulic phenomena at the subchannel scale. A new deposit process, based on Tube Support Plate flow blockage studies, has been developed and implemented in the model, and is presented in this work. It can be defined by two main steps: particle deposition, and strengthening process called "flashing" due to soluble species precipitation in the pores of the particle deposit. The relevance of this process is tested by comparing the simulation results to the actual levels of flow blockage observed in some nuclear plants. Two dominant trends are showed in this work: the flow blockage is more important on the hot leg than on the cold leg and at the top than at the bottom of the Steam Generators. Moreover the flow blockages at the upper Tube Support Plate have the special feature to be more important at the periphery than at the center. The "flashing" phenomenon allows one to underline the magnetite solubility dependence, so the pH dependence, of flow blockage phenomenon. A pH elevation of the secondary circuit seems to be a interesting remedy which is currently considered on EDF fleet.

Thomas Prusek, Edgar Moleiro, Fadila Oukacine, André Adobes, Marc Jaeger, et al.. Deposit models for tube support plate flow blockage in Steam Generators. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2013, 262, pp.418-428. ⟨10.1016/j.nucengdes.2013.05.017⟩. ⟨hal-00997704⟩

Journal: Nuclear Engineering and Design

Date de publication: 01-01-2013

Auteurs:
  • Thomas Prusek
  • Edgar Moleiro
  • Fadila Oukacine
  • André Adobes
  • Marc Jaeger
  • Marc Grandotto

Digital object identifier (doi): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2013.05.017

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