The Development and Assessment of a New CHF Correlation for PWR Fuel Assemblies

Abstract

The CHF in PWR fuel assemblies is usually predicted by the local flow correlation approach based on subchannel analysis while the effects of spacer grids, cold walls, non-uniform heat flux, etc are investigated. By using the subchannel code ATHAS to calculate each set of bundle CHF data, the local thermal-hydraulic parameters at DNB occurrence point were obtained. In present study, the minimum DNBR point method was applied to develop a new CHF correlation for PWR fuel assemblies. The so-called “three-step method” and “magnitude analysis method” were used to determine the shape and the expression of each item, respectively and the least square method was applied to determine the coefficients of the correlation. Based on the large database of CHF tests, the CHF correlation named ACC correlation has been developed to calculate the risk of DNB. The analysis and assessment results indicate that the ACC correlation can fit the experimental data well with high prediction accuracy and correct parametric trends. Coupled with subchannel code ATHAS, this correlation can simulate the thermal-hydraulics performances of PWR fuel assemblies exactly.