Application of CFX-10 to the Investigation of RPV Coolant Mixing in VVER Reactors

Coolant mixing phenomena occurring in the pressure vessel of a nuclear reactor constitute one of the main objectives of investigation by researchers concerned with nuclear reactor safety. For instance, mixing plays a relevant role in reactivity-induced accidents initiated by deboration or boron dilution events, followed by transport of a deborated slug into the vessel of a pressurized water reactor. Another example is constituted by temperature mixing, which may sensitively affect the consequences of a pressurized thermal shock scenario. Predictive analysis of mixing phenomena is strongly improved by the availability of computational tools able to cope with the inherent three-dimensionality of such problem, like system codes with three-dimensional capabilities, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. The present paper deals with numerical analyses of coolant mixing in the reactor pressure vessel of a VVER-1000 reactor, performed by the ANSYS CFX-10 CFD code. In particular, the “swirl” effect that has been observed to take place in the downcomer of such kind of reactor has been addressed, with the aim of assessing the capability of the codes to predict that effect, and to understand the reasons for its occurrence. Results have been compared against experimental data from V1000CT-2 Benchmark. Moreover, a boron mixing problem has been investigated, in the hypothesis that a deborated slug, transported by natural circulation, enters the vessel. Sensitivity analyses have been conducted on some geometrical features, model parameters and boundary conditions.