Projects / Programmes
EXPERIMENT AND SIMULATION OF HYDROGEN COMBUSTION IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CONTAINMENT EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 2.03.02 |
Engineering sciences and technologies |
Energy engineering |
Fuels and energy conversion technology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| T160 |
Technological sciences |
Nuclear engineering and technology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 2.11 |
Engineering and Technology |
Other engineering and technologies |
nuclear safety, containment, combustion, hydrogen
Researchers (18)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The project will involve experimental and theoretical research of hydrogen combustion in a nuclear power plant containment. This issue is especially important for the understanding of the events during the accident in the nuclear power plant in Fukushima (Japan) in March 2011.
The experiment of hydrogen combustion will be performed in the containment experimental facility HYKA A2 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, Germany). The HYKA A2 facility is basically a large vertical cylindrical vessel, with an internal shape similar to a nuclear power plant containment and a volume of 220 m3. The proposed experiment will be performed at the following reference initial conditions: pressure 1.5 bar, temperature 90 °C, homogeneous steam concentration 25 vol.%, and homogeneous hydrogen concentration 10 vol.%. The gaseous mixture will be ignited at the bottom of the vessel in the vessel axis, so that the flame will propagate upwards and radially. The resulting pressure and temperature time-evolutions will be measured. In addition, the flame propagation will be observed.
The experiment will not consist of a single test, but of several tests, performed with initial conditions varied in the vicinity of the reference values. This will allow the verification of the reliability of experimental results and to ensure, that the obtained results do not correspond to some singularity.
Within the joint execution of the experiment with KIT, the Jozef Stefan Institute researchers will prepare theoretical analyses before the execution and the detailed specification of the experiment. They will also cooperate in the performing of the experiment. After the experiment, researchers from JSI will analyse the results and prepare the final experiment report.
After the performing of the experiment, the project will continue with theoretical investigations. The first part of the theoretical work will involve the analysis of results. The measurement results will be used to determine the flame propagation velocity in different directions. The results will be compared to experimental results obtained in similar experimental facilities at similar conditions.
The second part of the theoretical investigations will involve the simulation of the performed experiment using computer codes. The experiment will first be simulated with the European lumped-parameter severe accident code ASTEC. In this approach, the space inside the containment is divided into smaller volumes, in which conditions are modelled as homogeneous. The simulation of the performed experiment with the ASTEC code will enable the development of an adequate methodology for an adequate simulation of flame propagation in a large enclosure. The methodology could then be applied for safety analyses of actual nuclear power plants.
The experiment will also be simulated with a Computational Fluid Dynamics code, which solves the transport equations of fluid mechanics and additional constitutive equations on the local instant scale. The simulation will enable the validation of physical models and thus contribute to the general theoretical research on combustion phenomena.
Significance for science
Within the general research of basic phenomena, the proposed project has contributed to the research (both experimental and theoretical) on combustion phenomena (specifically on deflagration). The performed experiment is among the few, which have been performed in vessel sizes of this order of magnitude, and provided results of pressure, temperature and vertical and horizontal flame propagation velocity in combustion in large volumes. The simulation with the Computational Fluid Dynamics code allows the validation and further development of constitutive relations for flame propagation. Within the specific field of nuclear engineering, the proposed project has contributed to the knowledge on hydrogen deflagration in a nuclear power plant containment at severe accident conditions.
Significance for the country
The acquired knowledge for simulating hydrogen combustion with lumped-parameter codes may be used in simulations of severe accidents in the Krško (Slovenia) nuclear power plant (prospectively for the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, for the company GEN Energy, and for the Krško NPP itself). The safety analyses of the Slovenian Krško nuclear power plant (NPP), in which the acquired knowledge for simulating hydrogen combustion using a lumped-parameter approach will be used, will: — increase the level of nuclear safety in Slovenia, — enable the Krško NPP to satisfy requirements from national and international authorities, and thus to continue with the safe production of electrical energy. The better prediction of expected consequences of hydrogen combustion during a hypothetical severe accident may also be used for further development of so-called Severe Accident Management Guidelines.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
