SUMMARY
Coupling thermal hydraulics codes with kinetics codes is a common practice for studying the behavior of kinetics during Loss of Coolant Accidents (LOCA) in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR). Tools such as PARCS have been successfully integrated with thermal hydraulics codes like RELAP and TRACE. While coupling with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is theoretically possible, the long run-times associated with full-core CFD calculations make it less practical for transient analyses.
PREREQUISITES
- Understanding of thermal hydraulics codes such as RELAP and TRACE
- Familiarity with neutron kinetics codes, specifically PARCS
- Knowledge of Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenarios in PWRs
- Basic principles of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
NEXT STEPS
- Research the integration of PARCS with RELAP and TRACE for transient analysis
- Explore methodologies for coupling thermal hydraulics and kinetics codes
- Investigate the challenges of using CFD in full-core calculations
- Study recent papers on code coupling techniques in nuclear reactor safety analysis
USEFUL FOR
Nuclear engineers, safety analysts, and researchers focused on thermal hydraulics and kinetics in Pressurized Water Reactors.