• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2002

The cylindrical Upper Guide Structure assembly of the reactor intervals wish the Core Support Barrel and the Inner Barrel Assembly is subjected to flow induced loads horizontally which include random pressure fluctuation due to turbulent flow and pump pulsation pressures. The purpose of this papers is to perform random vibration and harmonic response analyses fort flow induced loads. The dynamic response characteristics due to random turbulence and pump pulsation loads were evaluated using the lumped mass beam model. Especially the model considered the annulus effects due to water gaps existing between cylindrical structures such as the Upper Guide Structure Barrel, the Core Support Barrel, and the Inner Barrel Assembly. The effect of the Inner Barrel Assembly inside the Upper Guide Structure assembly was studied. The peak dynamic responses lot each loading condition due to the addition of IBA were affected by the natural frequencies of the structures. Therefore the peak dynamic responses of the structures should be conservatively obtained from evaluation of dynamic analysis for various loading conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.306-311
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• 2012

A reactor vessel internals comprehensive vibration assessment program (RVI CVAP) of an advanced power reactor 1400 (APR1400) is being performed as a non-prototype category-2 type of reactor based on the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide (NRC RG) 1.20. The aim of this paper is to present the results of structural response analysis and measuring locations of a upper guide structure (UGS) assembly of the APR1400 reactor. The analysis results of the UGS assembly results show that meet the specified integrity levels of the design acceptance criteria. Also, the measuring locations are set by the analysis results of the UGS assembly and selection criteria of measuring locations prior to this study. These analysis results and measuring locations will be used as fundamental materials to design a measurement system for the APR1400 RVI CVAP.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

A reactor vessel internals comprehensive vibration assessment program(RVI CVAP) of an advanced power reactor 1400(APR1400) is being performed as a non-prototype category-2 type of reactor based on the US nuclear regulatory commission regulatory guide(NRC RG) 1.20. The aim of this paper is to present the results of structural response analysis and measuring locations of a upper guide structure(UGS) assembly of the APR1400 reactor. The analysis results of the UGS assembly show that the specified integrity levels meet the design acceptance criteria. Also, the measuring locations are determined by the analysis results of the UGS assembly and selection criteria of previous study. These analysis results and measuring locations will be used as a guide to design a measurement system for the APR1400 RVI CVAP.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.963-970
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• 2018

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Regulatory Guide 1.20 needs to perform a comprehensive vibration assessment program for reactor internals during preoperational and startup testing for nuclear power plants and extended power uprate. Although the measurement program is one of the core programs, it is rarely carried out except for a first-of-a-kind or a unique design. This article describes measurement results of vibration and stress for the comprehensive vibration assessment program for an APR-1400 reactor internals. The measurement was performed at an upper guide structure during the pre-core hot functional test of Shin Kori unit 4 reactor internals because the Shin Kori unit 3 and 4 are the first construction project for the APR-1400, and the upper guide structure assembly was to design change compared with the valid prototype. We confirmed that all measured results are within the test acceptance criteria. It means that the structural integrity of the APR-1400 reactor internals was secured for the flow-induced vibration.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.7
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• pp.817-824
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• 2012

The most important component of a nuclear power plant is its nuclear reactor. Studies on the integrity of reactors have become an important part regarding the safety of a nuclear power plant. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide (NRC RG) 1.20 presents a Comprehensive Vibration Assessment Program (CVAP) to be used to verify the structural integrity of the Reactor Vessel Internals (RVI) for flow-induced vibration prior to commercial operation. However, there are few published studies related to the RVI CVAP. We classified the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) RVI CVAP as a non-prototype category-2 reactor as part of an independent validation of its design. The aim of this paper is to present the results of structural response analyses of the Upper Guide Structure (UGS) assembly of the APR1400 reactor. These results show that the UGS and the Inner Barrel Assembly (IBA) meet the specified integrity levels of the design acceptance criteria. The vibration and stress analysis results in this paper will be used as basic information to select measurement locations of the vibration and stress for the APR1400 RVI CVAP.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1513-1523
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• 2017

Improvement of numerical analysis methods has been required to solve complicated phenomena that occur in nuclear facilities. Particularly, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) behavior should be resolved for accurate design and evaluation of complex reactor vessel internals (RVIs) submerged in coolant. In this study, the FSI effect on dynamic characteristics of RVIs in a typical 1,000 MWe nuclear power plant was investigated. Modal analyses of an integrated assembly were conducted by employing the fluid-structure (F-S) model as well as the traditional added-mass model. Subsequently, structural analyses were carried out using design response spectra combined with modal analysis data. Analysis results from the F-S model led to reductions of both frequency and Tresca stress compared to those values obtained using the added-mass model. Validation of the analysis method with the FSI model was also performed, from which the interface between the upper guide structure plate and the core shroud assembly lug was defined as the critical location of the typical RVIs, while all the relevant stress intensities satisfied the acceptance criteria.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1036-1042
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• 2011

APR1400 RVI CVAP using the non-prototype category II is being conducted to verify integrity of the RVI design and to secure the CVAP technology. The measurement programs are to confirm vibration analysis results for reactor internals during pre-operational and initial startup testing and to determine the safety margin. One of the important basis for the measurement programs is test acceptance criteria. Therefore, this paper is on establishment of response instrumentation test acceptance criteria for APR1400 RVI CVAP. The established acceptance criteria show that the stress criteria of APR1400 RVI are more conservative values than those of the valid prototype plant(Palo Verde unit 1) and, the displacement criteria of the inner barrel assembly and the upper guide structure were established to 0.03 in and 0.01 in, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2204-2220
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• 2020

An open-pool type research reactor is designed and operated considering the accessibility around the pool top area to enhance the reactor utilization. The reactor structure assembly is placed at the bottom of the pool and filled with water as a primary coolant for the core cooling and radiation shielding. Most radioactive materials are generated from the fuel assemblies in the reactor core and circulated with the primary coolant. If the primary coolant goes up to the pool surface, the radiation level increases around the working area near the top of the pool. Hence, the hot water layer is designed and formed at the upper part of the pool to suppress the rising of the primary coolant to the pool surface. The temperature gradient is established from the hot water layer to the primary coolant. As this temperature gradient suppresses the circulation of the primary coolant at the upper region of the pool, the radioactive primary coolant rising up directly to the pool surface is minimized. Water mixing between these layers is reduced because the hot water layer is formed above the primary coolant with a higher temperature. The radiation level above the pool surface area is maintained as low as reasonably achievable since the radioactive materials in the primary coolant are trapped under the hot water layer. The key to maintaining the stable hot water layer and keeping the radiation level low on the pool surface is to have a stable flow of the primary coolant. In the research reactor with a downward core flow, the primary coolant is dumped into the reactor pool and goes to the reactor core through the flow guide structure. Flow fields of the primary coolant at the lower region of the reactor pool are largely affected by the dumped primary coolant. Simple, circular, and duct type discharge headers are designed to control the flow fields and make the primary coolant flow stable in the reactor pool. In this research, flow fields of the primary coolant and hot water layer are numerically simulated in the reactor pool. The heat transfer rate, temperature, and velocity fields are taken into consideration to determine the formation of the stable hot water layer and primary coolant flow. The bulk Richardson number is used to evaluate the stability of the flow field. A duct type discharge header is finally chosen to dump the primary coolant into the reactor pool. The bulk Richardson number should be higher than 2.7 and the temperature of the hot water layer should be 1 ℃ higher than the temperature of the primary coolant to maintain the stability of the stratified thermal layer.