Study on Design of Scaled Down Test Facilities for Investigation of Instabilities in Supercritical Water Reactor

Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) proposes higher thermal efficiency and simpler plant design compared to modern Boiling Water Reactors. High pressure, temperature and power requirement in SCWR, however, escalates the cost of an experimental facility significantly. Present work, therefore, focuses on designing downscaled test facilities for stability analysis of SCWR. The facilities are conceptualized to model the European reference design of SCWR under both forced and natural circulation condition. R-134a is identified as the scaling fluids through fluid-to-fluid modeling, along with two others from literature. Similarity variables are obtained following two different approaches, starting from fundamental conservation equations. Dimensional and non-dimensional representations of important geometric, kinematic and dynamic parameters are evaluated and compared. Comparisons between two different approaches, as well as between forced and natural circulation have been presented for each scaling fluid.