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Summary
In simulations of two-phase flow behavior in nuclear reactors, subchannel analysis codes are often used to evaluate the void fraction within a BWR fuel bundle in detail. When solving the momentum conservation equation averaged over a subchannel cross-section for upward two-phase flows, the distribution parameter is required to consider the void fraction and velocity distributions in the subchannel cross-section. In this paper, constitutive equations were developed for the distribution parameters for dispersed two-phase flows applicable to the inner, edge, and corner subchannels, which are typical subchannels in a fuel bundle. The distribution parameters could be calculated by giving the void fraction and the velocity distribution. Therefore, the distribution parameters were evaluated and modeled as a function of the geometrical parameters by assuming the void fraction and velocity distributions with bulk and subcooled boiling for each subchannel type. The developed constitutive equations were evaluated by comparing them with the distribution parameters estimated based on the NUPEC rod bundle void fraction test data. The developed distribution parameter model was implemented into the subchannel analysis code NASCA and compared with the measured cross-sectional average void fraction of the NUPEC rod bundle void fraction test data. In comparison with the original NASCA code, which assumed the distribution parameter to be unity, the improved NASCA with the distribution parameter model decreased the mean error of the measured cross-sectional average void fraction to less than half of the result of the original NASCA code, both in absolute and relative differences.
