Development and validation of a transition boiling model for RELAP5/MOD3 reflood simulation Original Research Article

The current version of the RELAP5/MOD3.1 code significantly underpredicts the transition boiling heat transfer during reflooding of hot fuel rods. In order to extend the code’s range of application for LOCA and degraded core analyses, a new transition boiling model has been developed, assessed and implemented. The model is based entirely on local state variables calculated by the code (wall and fluid temperatures, pressure, void fraction, mass flux and static quality) and does not rely on other history parameters, such as quench position or CHF and minimum film boiling temperatures. A number of separate-effect and bundle experiments are analyzed with the modified version of the code, and the predictions are compared with the ones obtained by the current version and with available experimental data. In all cases, the predictions of the improved model better fit the measured data. The shape of the new temperature curves is more physically and conceptually sound than the one calculated by the current version of the code.