International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET Vol: 9 No: 9

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An analysis and comparison of tube natural T frequency modes with fluctuating force frequency from thermal cross-flow fluid in 300 MWE PWR
Tasneem M. Shah, Zafar U. Koreshi, Sadaf Siddiq1

Abstract Reactor components including fuel assemblies and heat exchanger tubes are beam-type structures with natural or forced boundary conditions or mixed type boundary conditions. It is difficult to model such systems accurately as it consists of both thermal fluid flow behavior and structure of hollow fuel rods. An attempt is made to decouple the problem into thermal fluid flow and structures. First, a vibration analysis of the fuel rod is carried out resulting in the form of natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes. Then, three-dimensional transient thermal fluid flow transport equations are solved across a hollow cylinder with specified boundary conditions. This gives a transient temperature profile or the vorticity of flow around the fuel rod in the form of fluctuating force having a certain frequency. A comparison is made between the fluctuating force frequency of the coolant fluid and the hollow rod natural frequency; a phenomenon called lock-in is obtained in both directions, resulting in much larger amplitude of resonance vibration of the rod. The natural frequencies of the fuel rod for a 300 Mwe PWR Nuclear Power Plant are calculated and compared with numerically calculated Turbulence Induced Vibration (TIV) fluctuating force frequencies. The present paper is very useful to evaluate the fuel rod vibration with various boundary conditions. An important result is obtained for the variation in the vorticity along the axis; it is found that in the range 0700 mm, the vorticity is in the range 0-5 Hz i.e. it approaches the first-mode natural frequency. A similar trend is seen towards the end of the flow channel when the vorticity is 25 Hz corresponding to the third mode of natural frequency. Further numerical investigation is needed with variable coolant velocity and temperature. Index Terms Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Element
Method, Modal Analysis, Pressurized Water Reactor.
1 Dr. Tasneem M. Shah is a Professor at Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan ; ph: 0092(300)5269610; fax: 0092(51)9260158; e-mail: dr.tasneem@ mail.au.edu.pk. Dr. Zafar Ullah Koreshi is a Professor at Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan ; e-mail: zafar@ mail.au.edu.pk. Engr. Sadaf Siddiq is an Assistant Professor at Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan ; e-mail: sadaf@ mail.au.edu.pk.

I. INTRODUCTION HE well-known problem of fuel degradation and potential damage to instrumentation or fuel rods [1-3] in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) is investigated by studying the flow field in the core of a 300 MWe reactor. Of the various flow induced vibration mechanisms we have focused on turbulence induced vibration as it is the prime excitation source in axial flow and can lead to fretting wear damage in the core internals. The flow-field analysis is centered on the vorticity as it is important to investigate how close it is from the natural frequencies. In the first part, a modal analysis is carried out resulting in natural frequencies of the cylinder. In the second part, hydrodynamic analysis is carried out which gives the vorticities (TIV). The objective is to compare the frequencies to get the lock-in (resonance) conditions. An empirical approach for cross-flow induced vibrations has been taken by Khushnood et al [5] while Kang et al [6] has carried out a similar analysis for a 55 bundle. This work is useful for understanding the vulnerable domains in a coolant flow channel in a PWR which has yet to undergo detailed theoretical analysis. We consider the fuel as a single body, and neglect the cladding or internal structure of a rod. The coolant flow channel is modeled as shown in Fig. 1. Due to symmetry, we have considered one-fourth of the flow channel as shown in Fig. 2.

1936091 IJET-IJENS @ International Journals of Engineering and Sciences IJENS

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET Vol: 9 No: 9

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with a frequency 5 (Hz). Figs. (5-6) show the second and third modes with corresponding frequencies 13 and 27 (Hz). Since the present analysis is done for lock-in condition at the bottom baffle plate so we are only interested in the first mode of the clamped rod (5 Hz).

Fig. 1. Coolant flow domain between 4-Fuel Rods

Fig. 3. Elements in FE Model

Fig. 2. One-fourth of Fluid Domain for Computation

II. FEM MODAL ANALYSIS OF FUEL ROD The modal analysis of the bundle of fuel rod is carried out by the standard finite element package ANSYS [7]. To find frequency and mode shape, we have considered a single fuel rod supported by the baffle plates. The rod is modeled by 8node SHELL63 element. For building 1 FE model of a rod, 14,800 elements are needed (Fig. 3). For the boundary condition of the FE analysis, both ends of the rod are fixed. Material properties for the components of the rod for a typical 300 Mwe PWR used here for the reference values in the present analysis are listed in Table (1). A. Finite Element Analysis Results: Natural frequencies obtained from the FE analysis for a rod clamped at both ends are obtained by solving appropriate second order differential equations using ANSYS for calculating mode shapes and frequencies together with material properties given in Table 1. Obtained frequencies are summarized in Table (2), and corresponding mode shapes are depicted in Figs. (4-6). Fig. 4 shows the first mode appeared

Fig. 4. First Mode Shape of Single Fuel Rod

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International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET Vol: 9 No: 9 III. FLUID FLOW ANALYSIS

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A. Final Stage The 3-D hydrodynamic model is solved on single fuel rod supported at the bottom baffle plate where the inlet velocity, temperature and pressure are specified given in Table (2). The velocities and temperature are calculated by the code and vorticites are obtained using velocity-vorticity relations [9].
TABLE 3 INPUT PARAMETERS FOR FLOW ANALYSIS S# 1 Quantity

Units

kg / m
m/s

Description Water Density

Value 1000.0

Fig. 5. Second Mode Shape of Single Fuel Rod

Vin

Velocity at Entrance

8.0

3 4 5 6

Ts Tin Tout

bar K K K

Pressure Temperature at fuel rod surface Inlet Temperature Outlet Temperature

155.0 618 561 575

B. GOVERNING EQUATIONS: The conservation of mass, momentum and energy in three dimensions for a turbulent, incompressible, Newtonian fluid are given by [9]:
u x v + y + w = 0, z x

(1) ( u u u ) + x (2)
x

(u u + v u + w u ) + p = x y z x
Fig. 6. Third Mode Shape of Single Fuel Rod TABLE 1 GEOMETRY AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF FUEL ROD S# 1 2 3 4 5 6 Quantity Diameter Height Thickness Density E Units (mm) (mm) (mm) Description Fuel rod Fuel Rod Fuel Rod Fuel Rod Young Modulus Poisson Ration Value 10.0 3210.0 0.78 12.4
1.88 10
11

[ u u v ] + z [ u u w] y z
p y

v (u v + v y + w v ) + x z y

( v u v ) + x (3) ( w u w) + x ( 4)

v [ y v v ] + z [ v wv ] z x

(u w + v w + w w ) + p = x y z z
y

g / cm 3

[ w v w] + z [ w ww] y z + z [ k T ] z

N / m2
-

0.29

C p (u T + v T + w T ) = x [k T ] + y [k T ] x y x z z
(5)

TABLE 2 NATURAL FREQUENCY AND MODE SHAPES OF SINGLE FUEL ROD S. No. 1 2 3 Frequency (Hz) 5 13 27 Mode Shape Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3

where u , v, w are mean velocities and u , v , w are turbulent fluctuations. A Mac-type staggered grid system is used to locate the flow variables. The velocities are stored on the cell faces and the pressure and temperature are stored at the cell centers. Due to the staggering of the mesh three different types of control volume are required for the momentum equations and the continuity equation in the interior region, with straightforward modifications near the boundaries. A detailed description is given in [10].

1936091 IJET-IJENS @ International Journals of Engineering and Sciences IJENS

International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET Vol: 9 No: 9 These equations are solved using standard 3-D Fluent [8] hydrodynamic code using Finite Volume method. 0.81 Million fluid elements with hexahedral unstructured mesh are taken in the computational domain Fig. (2). Results for velocity, vorticity and temperatures are obtained and depicted in Figs. (6-13). No slip boundary conditions for velocities on the solid surface are given whereas temperature is kept constant. Symmetric conditions for all variables are used on other boundaries.

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Fig. 8. Temperature Contours on Cross-Sectional Area at z=1600 mm

Fig. 6. Velocity Contours on Cross-Sectional Area at z=1600 mm

Fig. 9. Velocity Across Radial Direction

Fig. 7. Vorticity Contours on Cross-Sectional Area at z=1600 mm

Fig. 10. Vorticity across Radial Direction

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International Journal of Engineering & Technology IJET Vol: 9 No: 9 IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

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Fig. 11. Temperature across Radial Direction

The modal analysis of a single rod were carried out and the results are given for natural frequencies for first, second and third modes which are in the range of 5 to 27 Hz. [Table (3)]. The hydrodynamics analysis was performed and results were obtained for vorticity (TIV) along the fuel rod. From Fig. 12, it is observed that vorticity at axial distance 0-700 mm from the bottom of fuel rod is in the range of 0-5 Hz which increased exponentially from 5-60 Hz up to 1200 (mm) and then suddenly is fallen to 25 Hz at the middle of the rod (1500 mm). From here onward along the rod, it remained 25 Hz till the top of the rod (3210 mm). These results have shown that lock-in (resonance) condition has occurred at both ends of the fuel rod which may be damaged the assembly at the bottom baffle plate in the power reactor. To avoid such accident, the coolant velocity may be reduced or controlled by some phenomena not to occur lockin condition. Further numerical investigations will be carried out by varying coolant flow conditions to avoid lock-in condition.

V. CONCLUSION A comparison was done between fluctuating frequency of the coolant fluid flow and the hollow rod material frequency of a typical 300 Mwe PWR under operation. This has been observed that the resonance (lock-in) condition occurred at both ends of the fuel rod resulting damage the assembly at the bottom baffle plate in the power reactor. Numerical experiments have shown that these phenomena could be controlled by lowering the coolant flow rate (velocity). Further numerical investigations will be carried out by considering the flow rate of the coolant through pressure difference REFERENCES
[1] [2] El-Wakil, M.M. , Powerplant Technology, McGraw-Hill Inc. 1984 Kazimi, M . S, , High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs: Final Report Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES), MIT-NFC- PR-082. 2006. [3] King, S. J., Young, M. Y., Seel, D. D, Conner, M. E., Lu, R. Y.and Paramonov, D. V., Flow Induced Vibration and Fretting Wear in PWR, International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, American Society of Mechanical Engineering. 2002 [4] Mian, Z., and Nayyar, A. H., 1999, Pakistans Chashma Nuclear Power Plant, A preliminary study of some safety issues and estimates of the consequences of a severeaccident, Sustainable Development Policy Institute,Monograph Series # 11. [5] S. Khushnood, Z.M.Khan, M.A.Malik, Z.U.Koreshi and M.A.Khan, 2003, Cross-Flow Induced Vibrations in Tube Bundles: A Review, Proc. of the Eleventh International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, (ICONE-11-36261), April 20-23, 2003, Tokyo, Japan. [6] Kang, H. S., Choi, M. H., Yoon, K. H., Song, K. N. and Jung, Y. H. 2004, A Vibration Analysis and Test of a 55 Rod Bundle, ICONE-12 Arlington, Virginia, April 25-29. [7] ANSYS 10.0 Inc. Pittsburg, USA [8] Fluent 6.1 Inc, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA [9] Fletcher, C. A., Computational Techniques for Fluid Dynamics, Springer Verlag. 1986. [10] S. Sivaloganathan and G. J. Shaw, A multigrid method for Recirculating flows. Inter. J. Num. Methods for Fluids, 8:417-440. 1988.

Fig. 12. Vorticity along Axial Direction

Fig. 13. Velocity along Axial Direction

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