TOBI: A nonlinear model for boiling water reactor stability analysis

The magnitude and the divergent nature of the oscillations during the LaSalle unit 2 nuclear power plant even on March 9, 1988, renewed concern about the state of knowledge on boiling water reactor (BWR) instabilities and was followed by many activities, e.g., the Idaho Stability Symposium. For appropriate representation of the physical processes, typical BWR time-domain stability calculations with, e.g., TRAC, RETRAN, or THERMIT require a large number of axial nodes and are very costly with regard to computer time. Linear models are inexpensive, but only valid as long as the parameters have no large deviation from the reference operating conditions. The objective of this work is the development of a physical model that is applicable for stability analysis in the nonlinear regime, but without the disadvantage of numerical problems and excessive computing times. The basic concept of the model TOBI is the integral study of the interaction between the time-dependent single- and two-phase regions. A series of calculations for purely thermal-hydraulic systems and BWRs has shown that TOBI is a convenient tool for stability analysis. Because of the simple but physically realistic modeling, it is very helpful in achieving an improved understanding of the mechanisms that affect BWR stability,more » and it is inexpensive, with regard to computer time, to perform extensive parameter sensitivity studies, even in the nonlinear regime.« less