Fractional scaling analysis for IRIS pressurizer reduced scale experiements

Abstract

About twenty organizations joined in a consortium led by Westinghouse to develop an integral, modular and medium size pressurized water reactor (PWR), known as international reactor innovative and secure (IRIS), which is characterized by having most of its components inside the pressure vessel, eliminating or minimizing the probability of severe accidents. The pressurizer is responsible for pressure control in PWRs. A small continuous flow is maintained by the spray system in conventional pressurizers. This mini-flow allows a mixing between the reactor coolant and the pressurizer water, warranting acceptable limits for occasional differences in boron concentrations. There are neither surge lines nor spray in IRIS pressurizer, but surge and recirculation orifices that promote a circulation flow between primary system and pressurizer, avoiding power transients whether outsurges occur. The construction of models is a routine practice in engineering, being supported by similarity rules. A new method of scaling systems, Fractional Scaling Analysis, has been successfully used to analyze pressure variations, considering the most relevant agents of change. The aim of this analysis is to obtain the initial boron concentration ratio and the volumetric flows that ensure similar behavior for boron dispersion in a prototype and its model.