Multi-physics coupled simulation on steady-state and transients of heat pipe cooled reactor system

With superior inherent safety and low maintenance demand, heat pipe cooled micro-reactor is a potential solution for decentralized remote electricity supply, as well as space power technology. Multi-physics coupled analysis is important to evaluate the inherent safety feature of micro-reactor. However, in the existing multi-physics coupling simulations, lumped parameter core heat transfer model and low-fidelity heat pipe model cannot accurately predict steady-state and transient safety margin of the reactor. In order to improve the simulation accuracy, a standalone two-dimensional transient high-temperature heat pipe analysis code was developed and validated. The heat pipe analysis code was coupled with the three-dimensional thermal conduction calculation of reactor core, as well as the point reactor kinetics, the alkali metal thermal-to-electric converter model and the heat pipe radiator model, to realize fully coupled analysis of reactor system. With the power distribution in the reactor core, the steady state, startup transient and single heat pipe failure accident were simulated based on the multi-physics coupling. The steady-state simulation results show that the heat flux of heat pipes shows significant non-uniformity in both circumferential and axial directions. The peak heat flux (120 kW/m2), with the twice value of averaged one (60 kW/m2), occurs on the heat pipes near the reactor edge rather than in the center. During reactor startup, the reactivity-insertion rate of 1.67e-3 $/s increases the transient peak heat flux to 260 kW/m2. The isothermal feature of heat pipes results in inverse heat transfer, i.e. from heat pipes to reactor structure, which improves the axial and radial reactor heat transfer and flattens the reactor temperature distribution. In the central heat pipe failure accident, more severe local temperature rise was observed in the core structure than that in the fuel pins. The peak heat flux location is shifted to the heat pipes adjacent to the failed heat pipe. Benefitted from the developed high-fidelity multi-physics coupling approach, the realistic transient phenomena in heat pipe cooled micro-reactor could be revealed.