Transient analysis and optimization of passive residual heat removal heat exchanger in advanced nuclear power plant

The transient performance and optimization of a passive residual heat removal heat exchanger(PRHR HX)were investigated.First,a calculation method was developed for predicting the heat transfer of the PRHR HX.The calculation results were validated through comparisons with ROSA experimental data.The heat-transfer performance of the AP1000 PRHR HX in the initial period was predicted,and it satisfied the design requirements.Second,the distributions of the heat flux,tube-inside/outside heattransfer coefficients,and heat load for the AP1000 PRHR HX over 2000 s were examined.Third,an optimization study was conducted by adjusting the horizontal length and tube diameter.Their effects on the four main heat-transfer parameters and the heat-transfer area were analyzed.Furthermore,the influence of the initial in-containment refueling water storage tank(IRWST)temperature was investigated using an established simulation procedure.The results indicated that it significantly affected the trends of the IRWST temperature and reactor outlet temperature.Finally,the minimum required flow rates over time to maintain the reactor outlet temperature at the safety line were determined for different start-up times.The trends of the minimum required flow rate and the peak flow rate were analyzed.

Multi-type sensor placement and response reconstruction for building structures: Experimental investigations

Estimation of lateral displacement and acceleration responses is essential to assess safety and serviceability of high-rise buildings under dynamic loadings including earthquake excitations. However, the measurement information from the limited number of sensors installed in a building structure is often insufficient for the complete structural performance assessment. An integrated multi-type sensor placement and response reconstruction method has thus been proposed by the authors to tackle this problem. To validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method, an experimental investigation using a cantilever beam with multi-type sensors is performed and reported in this paper. The experimental setup is first introduced. The finite element modelling and model updating of the cantilever beam are then performed. The optimal sensor placement for the best response reconstruction is determined by the proposed method based on the updated FE model of the beam. After the sensors are installed on the physical cantilever beam, a number of experiments are carried out. The responses at key locations are reconstructed and compared with the measured ones. The reconstructed responses achieve a good match with the measured ones, manifesting the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Besides, the proposed method is also examined for the cases of different excitations and unknown excitation, and the results prove the proposed method to be robust and effective. The superiority of the optimized sensor placement scheme is finally demonstrated through comparison with two other different sensor placement schemes： the accelerometer-only scheme and non-optimal sensor placement scheme. The proposed method can be applied to high-rise buildings for seismic performance assessment.