Simulation of performance of centrifugal circulators with vaneless diffuser for GCR applications Original Research Article

In the frame of the international forum GenIV, CEA has selected various innovative concepts of gas-cooled nuclear reactor. Thermal hydraulic performances are a key issue for the design. For transient conditions and decay heat removal situations, the thermal hydraulic performance must remain as high as possible. In this context, all the transient situations, the incidental and accidental scenarii must be evaluated by a validated system code able to correctly describe, in particular, the thermal hydraulics of the whole plant. As concepts use a helium compressor to maintain the flow in the core, a special emphasis must be laid on compressor modelling. Centrifugal circulators with a vaneless diffuser have significant properties in term of simplicity, cost, ability to operate over a wide range of conditions. The objective of this paper is to present a dedicated description of centrifugal compressor, based on a one-dimensional approach. This type of model requires various correlations as input data. The present contribution consists in establishing and validating the numerical simulations (including different sets of correlations) by comparison with representative experimental data. The results obtained show a qualitatively correct behaviour of the model compared to open literature cases of the gas turbine aircraft community and helium circulators of high temperature gas reactors. The model is finally used in a depressurised transient simulation of a small power gas fast reactor (ALLEGRO concept). Advantages of this model versus first preliminary simulations are shown. Further work on modelling and validation are nevertheless needed to have a better confidence in the simulation predictions.