Data Analysis of 64 Rod Bundles Reflood Heat Transfer Experiment

The test data of 64 rod bundles reflood heat transfer experiment performed by China Institute of Atomic Energy are analyzed. The heater rods are electrically powered and have a diameter of 9.5 mm and a length of 4.3 m arranged in a 8 × 8 array with a 12.6 mm pitch. The test parameter is in the range of 10–500 kg/(m2 · s) for injection water mass flux, 20–80°C for injection water temperature, 500–600°C for initial heater rod temperature, 0–1.1 kW/m for heating power, respectively. The system pressure is atmosphere pressure. Two kinds of spacer grids with and without mixing vanes are adopted to investigate their effect on heat transfer. The result shows that rod wall temperature downstream the spacer grid with mixing vanes is lower than that without mixing vanes, which indicates that the heat transfer is enhanced with mixing vanes. The rewetting velocity is nearly a constant under a certain test condition. The experimental values of rewetting velocity are compared with heat conduction controlled theories. At low mass flow rate, one-dimensional conduction gives agreement with experiment; while at high mass flow rate, the two-dimensional conduction theory is shown to be in agreement with experiment data. The RELAP5/ MOD3.3 reflood model is assessed against the test data. Comparison of code prediction and measured data indicates that the code predicts quench time relatively well but the peak rod temperature differs.