Development of COBRA-TF for modeling full-core, reactor operating cycles

Robert K. Salko, Travis Lange, Vefa Kucukboyaci, Yixing Sung, Scott Palmtag, Jess Gehin, Maria Avramova

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

CTF, the Pennsylvania State University version of COBRA-TF, has been adopted as the subchannel thermal hydraulic (T/H) capability in the core simulator being developed by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL). This has resulted in significant development efforts to expand the applicability of CTF to performing high-fidelity, full-core, multi-physics simulations. These efforts have focused on addressing CASL challenge problems for pressurized water reactors (PWRs), which include modeling of departure from nucleate boiling and CRUD induced power shift. Developments specific to full-core modeling capabilities include creation of a preprocessor utility for the user-friendly, rapid generation of pin-cell-resolved PWR models and implementation of a domain-decomposition parallelization of the code solution algorithm. In preparation for modeling CRUD growth phenomena, a coupling interface has been developed for CTF and the code has been incorporated into a multistate driver, which allows for modeling entire reactor operating cycles (i.e. years of operation). A simple CRUD modeling capability has been coupled to the code through this driver for capturing CRUD growth over these long operational periods. This paper presents an overview of these new features and shows results of a full-core, pin-cell resolved simulation of a Westinghouse 4-loop PWR core during a loss-of-flow transient as well as an initial coupled T/H-CRUD simulation of a 17 × 17 assembly during a 15-month reactor operation cycle.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication5th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management, ANFM 2015
Subtitle of host publicationAdvances in Nuclear Fuel Management V
PublisherAmerican Nuclear Society
Pages178-194
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9781510808034
StatePublished - 2015
Event5th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management, ANFM 2015 - Hilton Head, United States
Duration: Mar 29 2015Apr 1 2015

Publication series

Name5th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management, ANFM 2015: Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management V

Conference

Conference5th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management, ANFM 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHilton Head
Period03/29/1504/1/15

Keywords

  • CASL
  • COBRA-TF
  • CRUD
  • CTF
  • DNB

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