Simulation of Cosine Wave Power/Temperature Profile across Fuel Channel using Induction Heating Technique for Nuclear Reactor Safety Studies

Nuclear fuel channel experiences a wide range of power and temperature profiles/transients in a nuclear reactor such as reactor setback and step-back power patterns, temperature profile during LOCA and decay power pattern immediately after shutdown/tripping of the reactor. For reactor engineering and safety studies, simulation of these profiles in experimental facilities becomes imperative. The simulated nuclear fuel channel is heated by electrical heating to obtain cosine wave distribution of power/temperature profile, a typical characteristics of nuclear fuel channel. Induction heating technique is chosen for electrical heating of fuel channel due to its sundry benefits of efficiency, fast response, clean heating, better protection and accuracy in power regulation. Induction heating is the process of heating an electrically conducting object by eddy currents through electromagnetic induction. The parametric results obtained during the simulation helps in designing safety systems for nuclear reactors. The induction power supply of suitable frequency has been designed to obtain the desired power/temperature profile. The best design of the induction coil pitch and material properties of the work piece are simulated using COMSOL. The temperature profile has been obtained by changing the induction coil pitch. Simulation of cosine wave temperature profile across the length of fuel channel simulator for several parametric conditions have been presented by varying input parameters. The conclusions have been highlighted using the simulation results and hardware implementation is proposed for validation of simulated results.