Multi-scale Coupling of TRACE and SUBCHANFLOW based on the Exterior Communication Interface (ECI) (NUREG/IA-0541)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: July 2023
Date Published: November 2023

Prepared by:
Kanglong Zhang, Victor Hugo Sanchez-Espinoza Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology (INR), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz

Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Baden-Württemberg, 76344, Germany

Division of Systems Analysis
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

Prepared as part of:
The Agreement on Research Participation and Technical Exchange
Under the Thermal-Hydraulic Code Applications and Maintenance Program (CAMP)

Published by:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

This report describes the multi-scale coupling of the system code - TRACE and the sub-channel thermal-hydraulic code – SUBCHANFLOW (SCF) for a better description of the multi-dimensional thermal-hydraulic phenomena inside the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) of a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR).

In the recent versions of TRACE, the ECI was activated for multi-tasking and coupling of TRACE with different solvers e.g., CFD, sub-channel codes. To couple TRACE with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in-house sub-channel code – SUBCHANLFOW (SCF), a specific ECI-module for SUBCHANFLOW was developed. In this report, the implemented spatial mapping of the involved thermal-hydraulic domains and the time synchronization of the involved solvers are described for both stationary and transient simulation. A domain decomposition approach and a weighted field-mapping method were adopted for this purpose.

Besides, an explicit operator splitting method is implemented for the data transfers during the time advancement of both codes either in stationary or transient simulations.

The prediction capability of the coupled code is demonstrated by the analysis of two academic coolant-mixing cases and a VVER-1000 coolant-mixing benchmark. The results obtained by TRACE standalone and by the coupled system TRACE/SCF were compared together and it shows that the coupling system of TRACE/SCF could better predict the coolant mixing along the core than TRACE-standalone.