Dynamic Behavior of Boiling Water Reactors

A study of the basic processes involved in boil ing wa ter nuclear reactor dynamics is presented . The main emphasis of this research has been placed on the phys ical interpretation of these pro­ cesses . It is shown that this type of reac tors have two regimes of operation : linear , during normal oper at ion , and nonl inear , if they become unstable due to the thermohydraul ic feedback . Both of these regimes are stud ied using low-order physical mod el s . The main resul t ob tained from the linear study is the pole­ zero configurat ion of the reactivi ty-to-power transfer function . It is determined that three zeros and four poles are need ed to properly represent thi s transfer func tion . Phys ical processes are identif ied with these trans fer function features . Based on the unders tand in � of the se proces ses , an automated algori thm to est imate boil ing water reactor stability from neut ron no ise measurement s is developed and implemented as a computer cod e . The causative mechani sm lead ing to the appearance of the limit cycle in bo il ing water reac tors is identif ied from the nonl inear study . The relationship be tween the different process variables d uring limit cycle oscillations is stud ied . It is shown that these o scillations could reach large ampli tudes . The stab ility of the limi t cycle is al so stud ied . It is shown that the ampli tude of the limti cycle can become unstable and produce period-doubl ing pi tchfork bi furcations which scale accord ing

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