• Solar Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.33-43
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• 1999

The study on ice thermal storage system is to improve total system performance and increase the economical efficiency in actual all-conditioning facilities. To obtain the high charging and discharging efficiencies in ice thermal storage system, the improvement of thermal stratification is essential, therefore the process flow must be piston flow in the cylindrical type. With the relation of the aspect ratio(H/D) in the storage tank, the stratification is formed better as inlet flow rate is smaller. If the inlet and the outlet port are settled at the upside and downside of the storage tank, higher storage rate could be obtainable. In case that the flow directions inside the thermal storage tank are the upward flow in charging and the downward in discharging, thermal stratification is improved because the thermocline thickness is maitained thin and the degree of stratification increases respectively. In the charging process, in case of inlet flow rate the thermal stratification has a tendency to be improved with the lower flow rate and smaller temperature gradient in case of inlet temperature, the large temperature difference between inflowing water and storage water are influenced from the thermal conduction. The effect of the reference temperature difference is seen differently in comparison with the former study for chilled and hot water. In the discharging process, the thermal stratification is improved by the effect of the thermal stratification of the charging process.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2003

In the nuclear power plant, emergency core coolant system (ECCS) is furnished at reactor coolant system (RCS) in order to cool down high temperature water in case of emergency. However, in this coolant system, thermal stratification phenomenon can occur due to coolant leaking in the check valve. The thermal stratification produces excessive thermal stresses at the pipe wall so as to yield thermal fatigue crack (TFC) accident. In the present study, effects of turbulence penetration on the thermal stratification into T-branches with square cross-section in the modeled ECCS are analysed numerically. $textsc{k}$-$\varepsilon$ model is employed to calculate the Reynolds stresses in momentum equations. Results show that the length and strength of thermal stratification are primarily affected by the leak flow rate of coolant and the Reynolds number of the main flow in the duct. Turbulence penetration into the T-branch of ECCS shows two counteracting effects on the thermal stratification. Heat transport by turbulence penetration from the main duct to leaking flow region may enhance thermal stratification while the turbulent diffusion may weaken it.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.2064-2070
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• 1995

Characteristics of thermal flow stratification were studied experimentally by using the small scale pressurizer-surge line model. Thermal flow stratifications in the horizontal section of surge line were analyzed by the relation between the maximum temperature difference at any cross section in surge line and the Froude number representing the boundary conditions, i.e., in/out surge flow velocity and temperature difference of system. Thermal flow stratifications in outsurge flow decreased inversely proportional to the Froude number and did not exist for Fr>1. In insurge flow thermal flow stratifications disappeared near Fr=1.5, but resulted in the higher temperature difference than the case of outsurge flow.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.51-60
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• 2003

In the nuclear power plant, emergency core coolant system (ECCS) is furnished at reactor coolant system (RCS) in order to cool down high temperature water in case of emergency. However, in this coolant system, thermal stratification phenomenon can occur due to coolant leaking in the check valve. The thermal stratification produces excessive thermal stresses at the pipe wall so as to yield thermal fatigue crack (TFC) accident. In the present study, effects of turbulence penetration on the thermal stratification into T-branches with square cross-section in the modeled ECCS are analysed numerically. Standard k-$\varepsilon$ model is employed to calculate the Reynolds stresses in momentum equations. Results show that the length and strength of thermal stratification are primarily affected by the leak flow rate of coolant and the Reynolds number of duct. Turbulence penetration into the T-branch of ECCS shows two counteracting effects on the thermal stratification. Heat transport by turbulence penetration from main duct to leaking flow region may enhance thermal stratification while the turbulent diffusion may weaken it.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2002.08a
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• pp.51-54
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• 2002

When a cold HPSI (High Pressure Safety Injection) fluid associated with an design basis accident, such as LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident), enters the cold legs of a stagnated primary coolant loop, thermal stratification phenomena will arise due to incomplete mixing. If the stratified flow enters a reactor pressure vessel downcomer, severe thermal stresses are created in a radiation embrittled vessel wall by local overcooling. Previous thermal-mixing analyses have assumed that the thermal stratification phenomena generated in stagnated loop of a partially stagnated coolant loop are neutralized in the vessel downcomer by strong flow from unstagnated loop. On the basis of these reasons, this paper presents the thermal-mixing analysis results in order to identify the fact that the cold plume generated in the vessel downcomer due to the thermal stratification phenomena of the stagnated loop is affected by the strong flow of the unstagnated loop.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1380-1387
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• 2003

When a cold HPSI (High pressure Safety Injection) fluid associated with an overcooling transient, such as SGTR (Steam Generator Tube Rupture), MSLB (Main Steam Line Break) etc., enters the cold legs of a stagnated primary coolant loop, thermal stratification phenomena will arise due to incomplete mixing. If the stratified flow enters the downcomer of the reactor pressure vessel, severe thermal stresses are created in a radiation embrittled vessel wall by local overcooling. As general thermal-hydraulic system analysis codes cannot properly predict the thermal stratification phenomena, RG 1.154 requires that a detailed thermal-mixing analysis of PTS (pressurized Thermal Shock) evaluation be performed. Also. previous PTS studies have assumed that the thermal stratification phenomena generated in the stagnated loop side of a partially stagnated primary coolant loop are neutralized in the vessel downcomer by the strong flow from the unstagnated loop. On the basis of these reasons, this paper focuses on the development of a 3-dimensional thermal-mixing analysis model using PHOENICS code which can be applied to both partial and total loop stagnated cases. In addition, this paper verifies the fact that, for partial loop stagnated cases, the cold plume generated in the vessel downcomer due to the thermal stratification phenomena of the stagnated loop is almost neutralized by the strong flow of the unstagnated loop but is not fully eliminated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2835-2843
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• 2023

After an emergency shutdown of a lead-bismuth fast reactor, thermal stratification occurs in the upper Plenum, which negatively impacts the integrity of the reactor structure and the residual heat removal capacity of natural circulation flow. The research on thermal stratification of reactors has mainly been conducted using an experimental method, a system program, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). However, the equipment required for the experimental method is expensive, accuracy of the system program is unpredictable, and resources and time required for the CFD approach are extensive. To overcome the defects of thermal stratification analysis, a high-precision full-order thermal stratification model based on CFD technology is prepared in this study. Furthermore, a reduced-order model has been developed by combining proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) with Galerkin projection. A comparative analysis of thermal stratification with the proposed full-order model reveals that the reduced-order thermal stratification model can well simulate the temperature distribution in the upper plenum and rapidly elucidate the thermal stratification interface characteristics during the lead-bismuth fast reactor accident. Overall, this study provides an analytical tool for determining the thermal stratification mechanism and reducing thermal stratification.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.670-678
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• 1997

A method to mitigate the thermal stratification phenomenon of pressurizer surge line is proposed by heating bottom outside of horizontal pipe. Unsteady two dimensional model has been used to numerically investigate an effect of heating the bottom of pipe. The dimensionless governing equations are solved by using the control volume formulation and SIMPLE algorithm. Temperature and streamline profiles of fluids and pipe walls with time are compared with the previous study result. The numerical result of this study shows that the outside heating can relaxate the thermal stratification flow of the pressurizer surge line. Maximum dimensionless temperature difference between hot and cold sections of the pipe inner wall which causes thermal stratification was reduced from 0.514 to 0.424 at dimensionless time 1, 632 and 1, 500 respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.735-740
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• 2001

In the nuclear power plant, emergency core coolant system(ECCS) is furnished at reactor coolant system(RCS) in order to cool down high temperature water in case of emergency. However, in this coolant system, it occurs thermal stratification phenomena in case that there is the mixing of cooling water and high temperature water due to valve leakage in ECCS. This thermal stratification phenomena raises excessive thermal stresses at pipe wall. Therefore, this phenomena causes the accident that reactor coolant flows in reactor containment in the nuclear power plant due to the deformation of pipe and thermal fatigue crack(TFC) at the pipe wall around the place that it exists. Hence, in order to fundamental identification of this phenomena, it requires the experimental research of modeling test in the pipe flow that occurs thermal stratification phenomena. So, this paper models RCS and ECCS pipe arrangement and analyzes the mechanism of thermal stratification phenomena by measuring of temperature in variance with leakage flow rate in ECCS modeled pipe and Reynold number in RCS modeled pipe. Besides, results of this experiment is compared with computational analysis which is done in advance.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.503-511
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• 2002

Heat flow characteristics during hot water extraction process was studied experimentally. Data were taken at various outlet port type for the fixed inlet port type, inlet-outlet temperature differences and mass flow rates. In this study, the temperature distribution in a storage tank and an outlet temperature were measured to predict a degree of stratification in the storage tank, and a useful rate of hot water was analysed with respect to the variables dominating a extraction process. Experimental results show that the degree of stratification and useful rate of hot water are all high in a low flow rate in case of using modified distributor I (MDI) as the outlet port type.