Overview and Discussion of the OECD/NRC Benchmark Based on NUPEC PWR Subchannel and Bundle Tests

Abstract

The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) under the sponsorship of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared, organized, conducted, and summarized the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (OECD/NRC) benchmark based on the Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (NUPEC) pressurized water reactor (PWR) subchannel and bundle tests (PSBTs). The international benchmark activities have been conducted in cooperation with the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of OECD and the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES), Japan. The OECD/NRC PSBT benchmark was organized to provide a test bed for assessing the capabilities of various thermal-hydraulic subchannel, system, and computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) codes. The benchmark was designed to systematically assess and compare the participants’ numerical models for prediction of detailed subchannel void distribution and department from nucleate boiling (DNB), under steady-state and transient conditions, to full-scale experimental data. This paper provides an overview of the objectives of the benchmark along with a definition of the benchmark phases and exercises. The NUPEC PWR PSBT facility and the specific methods used in the void distribution measurements are discussed followed by a summary of comparative analyses of submitted final results for the exercises of the two benchmark phases.