Recent SAM Code Improvement to Heat Transfer Modeling Capabilities

Abstract

System Analysis Module (SAM) is currently under development at Argonne National Laboratory as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for advanced non-light water reactor (non-LWR) safety analyses. It utilizes the object-oriented application framework MOOSE to leverage the modern software environment and advanced numerical methods. The capabilities of SAM are being extended to enable the transient modeling, analysis, and design of various advanced nuclear reactor systems. This report summarizes recent SAM code improvement to heat transfer modeling capabilities to support system and core thermal-hydraulics analysis for advanced nuclear reactor systems. These new capabilities include implementation of the energy equation for solid structure in porous medium and its coupling with porous medium flow energy equation; coupling between one-dimensional flow equation and three-dimensional heat conduction equation; coupling between two-dimensional heat structure and three-dimensional porous medium flow equations; and implementation of effective thermal conductivity correlations for solid pebble beds and its validation against High Temperature Test Unit (HTTU) experimental data. Demonstration or validation test problems are also included in this report to confirm the successful implementation of these capabilities.