压水堆燃料包壳表面蒸汽烟囱结构CRUD的多物理场耦合模拟

Multiphysics Coupling Simulation of CRUD with Steam Chimney Structures on Surface of PWR Fuel Cladding

  • 摘要: 针对压水堆燃料包壳表面腐蚀沉积层(CRUD)易引发局部过热与硼酸富集,建立了蒸汽烟囱结构CRUD多物理场耦合模型,并用WALT回路实验数据进行了验证。在压水堆典型运行参数及CRUD基准参数构成的基本工况下,高速渗流区与硼酸浓缩区主要集中于靠近燃料包壳侧的烟囱界面附近,高温区则分布于靠近燃料包壳侧且远离烟囱通道的区域。高温区的峰值温度为636.25 K,硼酸浓缩区的最大硼酸浓度为71.85 mol/m3,烟囱界面最大过热度为4.01 K,烟囱界面上过冷泡核沸腾(SNB)活跃区比例为57.42%。敏感性分析表明,包壳热流密度是驱动局部过热、内部渗流、溶质富集以及SNB活跃区扩展的主导因素,而孔隙率对硼酸富集的影响最明显。本研究揭示了CRUD内局部过热、流体补给、溶质累积与局部沸腾区演化之间的耦合规律,可为压水堆燃料包壳表面CRUD传热传质行为分析及局部风险评估提供依据。

     

    Abstract: Chalk River unidentified deposits (CRUD) on pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel cladding can increase local thermal resistance, promote boric acid enrichment, and aggravate the risks of CRUD-induced power shift and localized cladding degradation. To clarify the coupled heat and mass transfer mechanisms in chimney-structured CRUD, a two-dimensional axisymmetric multiphysics model was developed for a representative unit consisting of one steam chimney and the surrounding porous CRUD. The porous CRUD region was described by steady heat conduction, incompressible flow, Darcy seepage, and advection-diffusion transport of soluble species. Subcooled nucleate boiling (SNB) inside the porous matrix was not explicitly solved as bulk two-phase flow. Instead, evaporative heat removal was represented by a phase-change boundary condition at the chimney-CRUD interface. The local saturation temperature was updated according to boric acid concentration, allowing the temperature, seepage, and solute fields to interact through iterative coupling in COMSOL Multiphysics. The model was compared with Westinghouse Advanced Loop Tester (WALT) data for Rod86 and Rod80. The relative errors in peak cladding absolute temperature are 0.85%-1.81% and 0.75%-1.82%, respectively, while the corresponding absolute temperature deviations are 5.35-11.92 K and 4.68-11.68 K. Under the baseline condition, the high-temperature region is located near the fuel-cladding side and away from the chimney channel, whereas the high-velocity seepage and boric acid enrichment regions are concentrated near the chimney interface on the cladding side. The predicted peak CRUD temperature, maximum chimney-interface superheat, maximum boric acid concentration, and fraction of the active SNB region are 636.25 K, 4.01 K, 71.85 mol/m3, and 57.42%, respectively. These distributions indicate that local overheating drives interfacial evaporation, which further induces liquid replenishment and solute accumulation. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for porosity, chimney radius, chimney density, CRUD thickness, and cladding heat flux. Increasing porosity markedly reduces seepage velocity and boric acid enrichment but has little influence on the overall temperature level. Increasing chimney radius or chimney density generally enhances local heat removal and suppresses interfacial superheat, seepage, boric acid enrichment, and the fraction of the active SNB region. Increasing CRUD thickness has limited effects on peak temperature and maximum superheat, but significantly promotes solute accumulation and increases the absolute length of the active SNB region, although the fraction of the active SNB region varies non-monotonically. Cladding heat flux is identified as the dominant external driver. As it increases from 1.0 to 2.0 MW/m2, the peak cladding temperature increases from 630.16 to 642.86 K, the maximum superheat from 2.68 to 5.28 K, the maximum seepage velocity from 0.54 to 2.26 mm/s, the maximum boric acid concentration from 37.04 to 249.17 mol/m3, and the fraction of the active SNB region from 55.18% to 60.59%. The results show that CRUD-related risk cannot be assessed using peak cladding temperature alone because the hottest region and the strongest boric acid enrichment region are not spatially coincident. A combined evaluation of local superheat, seepage behavior, boric acid concentration, and fraction of the active SNB region is therefore more appropriate. The model provides a quantitative basis for identifying high-risk regions, assessing CRUD morphology effects, and supporting PWR fuel design and operational risk evaluation.

     

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