CFD investigation of flow reversal in inverted U-tube steam generator under two-phase natural circulation

In this paper, a critical mass flow rate (CMFR) has been obtained for three different steam generators (i.e. two marine-type and one commercial) at different inlet void fractions using the CFD method to study the sustainability of natural circulation (NC) due to depressurization in two-phase NC mode. Because of depressurization, the transients in the inlet void fraction have been considered as multiple steady-state inputs, and the range of safe operating mass flow rate has been obtained. The results show that the characteristics curves shift with inlet void fraction thus limiting the operating mass flow rate range between 0.046 kg/s to 0.050 kg/s for M_SG1 and 0.051 kg/s to 0.055 kg/s for M_SG2. The effect of pipe roughness on CMFR has also been studied. The results can be used for the optimized design of the U-tube steam generator (UTSG) that will safely perform the heat removal operation during a small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA).