Simulation study on transport characteristics of leakage gas from the condenser of power plant

Abstract

Exploring the transport characteristics of leakage gas in the condenser can facilitate quicker identification of leak points when using Helium tracer gas method for detection. We construct a 3-D physical model of the condenser to simulate the Helium gas leakage process within the tube bundle. On the steam side, we adopt RNG k-?, porous media, steam condensation, and convective diffusion models to describe steam and leakage gas-flow. On the waterside, we use the tube bundle thermal resistance model to describe the steam-water heat transfer. The research concludes with three key points. When the centripetal pressure gradient is insufficient, there will be leakage gas enrichment, resulting in flowing out in the form of diffusion. When there is no centripetal pressure gradient in the tube bundle region, it will extract only a small amount of upstream leakage gas along with steam through the flow. When reaching a stable level for leakage gas, the leakage intensity is proportional to the outlets? flow rate but is independent of the transport form. The deviation of the mass-flow rate decreases with the mesh quantity increasing, which is less than 2% when the mesh quantity is over 638228. The deviation between simulated and actual values of the two parameters is less than 5%, which reveals the good agreement between numerical calculation and actual work conditions. These conclusions can assist employees and researchers in evaluating data on leak points and enhancing detection techniques.