by Marilyn Phillips

Mathematics Instructor

Palacios High School

Team led by Dr. Karen Vierow

Research Associate: Dr. Isaac Choutapalli

Dr. Vierow’s Grad Students

— Niki Williams—Countercurrent Flow Limitation Experiment with Steam & Water

— Adam Bingham —Analysis of Advanced Fuel Assemblies

And Core Designs for the Current and the Next Generations of LWR’s

(Light Water Reactors)

— Kevin Hogan —An Overview of Projects

Using a Simulation Model

—Zach Bailey —Nuclear Safety Program at

Texas A & M

— Ni Zhen —Analysis of VHTR

(Very High Temperature Reactor) Using Melcor

Other Team Members:

Scott Griffin from Bay City High School

Willie Smith from TideHaven High School

Working in Conjunction with the South Texas Project Nuclear Facility

Picture of the South Texas Project Nuclear Facility

www.stpnoc.com

What type of research is conducted?

Dr. Vierow’s students are working on the design of the cooling system for a nuclear

power facility.

Niki Williams’ experiment uses counter current flow with air and

water. The purpose of this experiment is to come up with possible scenarios that

will cause flooding to occur

and thus jeopardize the safety of the

nuclear facility.

The Data Acquisition System

Data Interpretation

What air or steam flow is necessary to cause a flooding situation?

The change in water pressure and the and the air or steam flow rates are what are

measured in this experiment.A constant water flow rate is selected for

each experiment. In the following data, The water rate flow was approximately

5 gal/min.

The next slide is an example of the number of data points that the Data Acquisition System will read out in just one second.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The date is read and generated using a computer program that takes over

200 readings per second and averages these together and the output data is

20 points per second. This gives us a good picture of what is

happening in the simulation.

485 31.92 5.042 53.821 14.574

485.1 31.99 5.043 53.899 14.576

485.2 32.012 5.043 53.898 14.574

485.3 32.083 5.043 53.895 14.574

485.4 32.163 5.045 54.003 14.574

485.5 32.252 5.045 54.177 14.575

485.6 32.317 5.047 54.35 14.574

485.7 32.456 5.048 54.452 14.575

485.8 32.408 5.048 54.468 14.575

485.9 32.503 5.049 54.432 14.575

486 32.548 5.051 54.401 14.574

Seconds Air Pressure Water Flow Δ Water Pr. Atm.Pr.

According to the following

data chart,

Can you see where flooding is possibly occurring?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make an educated guess!

Minutes/Seconds Air Pressure Δ Water Pressure

0.5 / 30 31.9 56.3 1.5 / 90 32.1 56.3 2.5 / 150 32.9 56.7 3.5 / 210 32.9 56.5 4.5 / 270 33.4 56.5 5.5 / 330 33.5 56.4 6.5 / 390 33.9 56.4 7.5 / 450 33.9 56.3 8.5 / 510 33.0 54.4 9.5 / 570 33.5 55.3

What would be your best guess?

The data that is collected will help in the

maintenance and the safety

protocols that are necessary to keep a nuclear

facility from experiencing any of these types of

occurrences.

Minutes/ Seconds

Air Pressure

Δ Water Pressure

0.5 / 30 31.9 56.3

1.5 / 90 32.1 56.3

2.5 / 150 32.9 56.7

3.5 / 210 32.9 56.5

4.5 / 270 33.4 56.5

5.5 / 330 33.5 56.4

6.5 / 390 33.9 56.4

7.5 / 450 33.9 56.3

8.5 / 510 33.0 54.4

9.5 / 570 33.5 55.3

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Time [s]

Air

Vel

oci

ty [

m/s

]

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

DP

[in

wat

er]

Air Velocity

DP

Counter Current Flow Data Chart

As you can see from the graph, as flooding occurs, the water pressure suddenly drops.

According to the data, flooding occurred when the air velocity

was about 34.5 m/second. This happened during this experiment at

about 480 seconds or 8 minutes.If you look back at the data, you will

see a sharp decline in the water pressure at this point.

Safety is the # 1 Priority

We want the general population to have a safe environment,

especially those of us that live near a nuclear facility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This research will also help in the design of future plants,

so that the safety of our communities will be maintained.

Applications in the

High School Classroom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Set up a 10 gal. tank of water with three different size pipes coming out of the tank.

Students will learn about water flow and how it varies with the various dimensions

of pipe.

Equipment Needed

About a 10 gal water tank

8 ft piece of each of the following:

⅜ inch PVC

½ inch PVC¾ inch PVC

3 valves

PVC glue

During this lesson, the students will learn the following objectives:

(1) How changing dimensions affects the cross-sectional area and the volume of

the water in the pipe.

(2) How to calculate the water flow coming out a pipe by using the

Δ Amount of Water / Δ Time

Science teachers may also want to do a water conservation lesson along with this lesson on

water flow.I will probably spend about one week of classroom

time covering this material.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day One: Pre-Test on Basic knowledgeDay Two: Do the Experiment

Day Three: Make Graphs & Discuss the DataDay Four: Have a class discussion about how water flow

relates to the safety of a nuclear plant.Day Five: Post Test to determine what the students

have learned.

In Conclusion,I would like to give a special THANKS all of

the people that made this presentation possible.TAMU

Our Team Leader: Dr. Karen VierowResearch Associate: Dr. Isaac Choutapalli Grad Student: Niki Williams All of the other grad students that presented

their work for us to view.

The National Science Foundation