CFD analysis for the dome section of Maanshan nuclear power plant

This study aims to reveal the possibility of a crack due to the temperature gradient on RPV head in Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant. The temperature distribution inside RPV and on the RPV wall is calculated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software STAR-CCM+. The computational domain starts from the bottom part of the upper plenum and continues throughout the entire dome region, so that the high temperature coolant leaking to the dome region through gaps between solids can be included to calculate the leak flow and temperature distribution in the dome region. In the present study, Computational cells are generated for half of the upper plenum region and dome region using symmetry assumption to save computer resources. The total number of cells is ∼65 millions including 3 prism layers. The calculations not only provide the detailed information of flow and temperature distribution inside the dome region but also the stress distribution on the dome surface. A small variation of ∼0.8Pa of stress distribution is obtained by the adiabatic assumption of all solid structures.