Activities, on Flow Induced Vibration within the FRG Fast Reactor Programm, Current Status and Future Planning

A. Rangette, H. Schmidt Interatom Bergisch Gladbach 1 Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract This paper presents a general view of the procedure used to proof the structural integrity of SNR 300 reactor components subjected to vibrational loads. Current vibrational problems at the experimental fast reactor KNK II are outlined. A sketch of planned predesign activities on flow induced vibration problems for the SNR2 programme is given.

Introduction During the recent years the FRG activities in the field of flow induced vibration had been dominated by the specific problems of two reactor plants - the sodium cooled compact reactor KNK at Karlsruhe - and the sodium cooled fast reactor SNR 300 at Kalkar These two reactors are typical loop-type reactors. Under the aspect of flow induced vibration the loop reactor has some advantages compared with an quivalent pool reactor e.g.: - the eigenfrequencies of the reactor tank shell and of most of the tank internals are on a medium level, due to the higher stiffnes of the components compared to pool typ structures - the flow pathes are in general ducted and thereby the flow conditions at the single components are well defined Especially within both of the above mentioned reactors most of the internal structures are subjected to low flow velocities. The exciting ' potential for flow induced vibrations therefore is very low, so that no vibrational problems should be expected. This assumption has been verified by the operation of KNK for more than ten years and by the non-nuclear operation during start up of the SNR 300.

Only two kinds of tank internal structures are subjected to high flow velocities or to undefined flow conditions: - the core components and - the' above-core structures Special full scale out-of-pile tests have been performed for this structures to investigate their behavior concerning flow induced vibration. Some results of the test with core components have been presented to IWGFR specialist's meeting at Argonne, Illinois in Sept. 1977. In this paper the procedure to determine flow induced vibration loads of SNR 300 reactor tank internals and the out-of-pile tests of the abovecore structure will be presented. Basic work concerning the problems of instability and tube bundle vibration has not been performed at Interatom. Due to the international work sharing within the SNR 300 project, the Netherlands partner has been responsible for the development of IHX, Steam generators and main sodium pumps. Therefore the Dutch were also responsible for investigations on the above mentioned problems. Besides the work on SNR 300 vibration measurements the ongoing activities on flow induced vibration are concerned with current problems at KNK II. Future activities in this field will be devoted to SNR2 vibrational design problems.

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Specific Problems of the KNK II The sodium cooled compact reactor KNK has been designed as a circoniumhydrid moderated thermal reactor called KNK I. The KNK I plant has been operated from 1971 to 1974 with the thermal core configuration. After a reconstruction phase starting at 1975 the plant is operating since October 1977 up to now as a fast reactor called KNK II. In 1983 the first, fast core has been discharged. The plant has been refueled in 1983 and is operating up to now with its second fast core configuration. The KNK II is a loop reactor with two external loops (Fig. 1). The sodium flow comming out of the loops is fed into an external collecting pipe and from there into the lower plenum of the reactor. After passing the core, the coolant is discharged from the upper plenum through two sodium pipes into the primary loops.

2.1 KNK II Pump Vibrations Since plant start up in 1971 the main sodium pump of the second primary loop was affected by vibrational problems. In 1984 the pump rotor has been replaced by a new one. After an excellent operational behavior of the new rotor in the beginning, vibrational problems show an increasing tendency now. A special contribution on operational experience with these pumps will be presented in session V.

-42.2 Mechanical Interactions between Spacer Grids and Fuel Pin Cladding During visual inspection of a defective subassembly of the first KNK II fast core, wear marks have been discovered on the cladding surface of fuel pins. Later P. I.E.. on pins from other test fuel S.A. revealed the same phenomenon. The location of these marks and wear at the spacer grids indicated that the marks have to be attributed to mechanical interaction between spacer grid and fuel pin. Up to now, the cause for this specific mechanical interaction of such intensity couldn't be found. Earlier feasibility and endurance tests on fuel . elements and subassemblies in water and sodium flow indicated no problems with parallel flow induced vibrations. Additional flow tests in water, performed after the failures have been discovered, confirmed the former results. Vibration amplitudes large enough to produce weak-contact marks, could only be realized in a two-phase flow or by additional transversal excitation. The assumption that a gas-sodium mixture flow could be responsible for the wear seemed to be plausible, because during operation of the first fast core, the gas entrainment by the coolant has been relatively high. Due to gas accumulation, e.g. within the lower plenum, and discharging at irregular intervals, gas bubbles flow through the core, possible causing pin rattle.

-5Together with the design of a new core the gas passage through the active core has been eliminated and it was supposed that the wear problem had been solved too. In 1983 the reactor was charged with this second fast core. In the meantime failures have occurred and P.I.E. has shown similar wear on the fuel pin cladding of the new core due to mechanical interactions with the spacer grids. At present further out-ofpile and in-situ tests are planned to explore the causal connections of these phenomena. Determination of Structural Strains due to Flow Induced Vibrations at SNR 300 Structures The best way to determine structural strains due to flow induced vibrations is a direct measurement at selected points of the structures during plant operation or start up. At an early stage of the SNR 300 project a remaining vibrational instrumentation of the reactor tank internals has been excluded. On the other hand the possibilities to install a removable instrumentation at the tank internals during start up or operation are extremely restricted by safety considerations and by the design itself. There are only a few positions allowing removable installation of vibration transducers. For this purpose special probes have been developed. To ensure the feasibility of the scheduled instrumentation techniques, special tests are needed.

-6Due to the fact that a limited instrumentation provides limited local informations only/ much effort has been spent on structural analysis of mode shapes and frequencies, in order to obtain the information needed of the. whole structures. To ascertain the integrity of the internals, an iterative procedure has been planned, consisting of theoretical and experimental structure analysis and a final vibration measurement during reactor start up. 3.1 General Procedure The intended and in most items realized procedure of vibrational strain determination is shown in the flow diagramm of fig. 2. The main aims of this procedure are: - the proof of allowable structural strains due to operational vibration, in order to meet the licensing requirements, i. e. to demonstrate to the licensing authority that the dynamic loads are within an allowable range under operating conditions. - to meet the designers responsibility, i. e. to assure that all structures and components are properly designed with respect to dynamic loads and vibrational phenomena.

-73.1.1 Reactor Tank Internals In case of internal structures of the reactor tank the proof is based on - mathematical models and - as-built experimental modal analysis of the realized structures. The experimental investigations have to provide realistic feedback data for parameter identification and improvements of the structural models. Structures/ possibly subjected to significant vibrational loads, have been tested in out-ofpile flow tests on full scale models. If necessary, the design has been improved to reduce vibrational loads. Collateral to the activities described above, tools for vibration measurements during plant start up have been developed and tested. At present state, the whole work mentioned above has been finished and the last steps - vibration measurements at operational conditions, - strain evaluation from the measured data by means of the adapted structural models, will be done next.

-83.1.2 Sodium Pipe Systems Experience has shown that considerable insight to pipe vibration is possible by visual and hands-on inspections. Visual inspections of the sodium main piping systems had therefore been performed by walkdowns during start up, in order to identify pipes and systems susceptible to flow or mechanical induced vibrations. In case of doubt or significant large vibrational amplitudes, this qualitative method has been supported by quantitative measurements using portable measuring devices. 3.2 Experimental Investigations

3.2.1 Experimental Modal Analyses For the purpose of adapting the mathematical models to the behavior of the real structures, experimental modal analyses, have been performed at original structures of the whole reactor tank system. The analyses have been performed by using the phase-resonance method with multiple exciting. This method has been applied to analyse the following structures: - reactor vessel, - rotating plug with the dip plate system and the above-core structures, - pressure surge shielding tank (flow skirt) with the lower plenum vessel,

-9- sodium inlet pipes, - core case with core support plate and bubble separator. 3.2.2 Vibration Measurements during Plant Start-Up For the purpose of vibrational measurement 19 positions at tank internal structures have been prepared for the reception of removable transducers (Fig. 3). The transducers, equiped with biaxial accelerometers, will be inserted into their positions by means of probes and will be coupled to the structure by radial forces. Due to the limited number of penetrations through the rotating plug, only two probes can be inserted at the same time. Therefore the rotating plug system has to be moved to change the positions of the probes. Measuring positions located on structures of the rotating plug system are not restricted by that. They are equiped with special probes remaining at their positions during the whole measuring campaign. In addition to the instrumentation mentioned above there are a number of measuring positions outside the reactor tank. In detail: - 18 strain gages at the outer surface of the reactor tank, - 24 accelerometers. at structures on the upper side of the rotating plug, - 18 accelerometers at the sodium inlet and outlet pipes of each primary loop.

-10All vibrational signals will be recorded simultaneously on PCM-tapes together with plant operational signals like pressure, flow rate etc. The PCM data acquisition and transfer system is designed for handling up to 96 analog channels with an upper frequency limit of 1 kHz for each channel. The PCM-System is linked to a data processing system by a DMA-Interface. On-line and play-back data transfer can be performed up to a rate of 80 K words/s. A test program has been set up for the start up measurements, that takes account of all plant operating conditions of relevance to vibrational loads. In connection with each programm step instantaneous analyses will be performed in order to provide the stress evaluation models with suitable input data (Fig. 4 ) . 3.2.3 An Example of Out-of-Pile Tests The instrument guide tubes, substructures of the above-core structures, are abviously susceptible to flow induced vibrations (Fig. 5). Due to the irregularity of the tube bundles and the undefined flow conditions, cross-flow induced vibrations couldn't be excluded by means of a theoretical proof. It was decided to stiften the bundles by clamps in order to reduce the potential for flow induced vibration, and to perform a full scale test with a sector model of the structure in a water flow (Fig. 6 ) .

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-11Due to those clamps the eigenfrequencies of the tubes were increased by a factor of about 2. The water tests, performed in a hydraulic core mockup, have shown that this correctional measure has been sufficient. 3.3 Theoretical Investigations

3.3.1 Theoretical Structural Analyses Structural analyses, based on finite element models, have been performed for structures without fluid influences (Fig. 8, 9). Eigenfrequencies and mode shapes have been calculated and compared with the experimental results. By iterative adjustments of the stiffness at some sensitive points an adapted finite element model was obtained which reproduces the experimental modes sufficiently. A more realistic model was obtained by including fluid structure interaction, using added mass approximation of SAP 4 and the fluid element of the code ANSYS for cylindrical structure models. On the base of this model, calculations were performed yielding the correlation between modal displacements at the measuring positions shown in Fig. 3 and maximum modal stresses somewhere in the structure. 3.3.2 Processing of Start-Up Measurement Data The interpretation of the measured data is based upon the assumption that significant excitation will take place only at the eigenfrequencies of a structure. Accordingly only those modes are

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-12taken into consideration whose eigenfrequencies are close enough to a measured frequency. If an excited mode has been identified the corresponding maximum stress is deduced from the measured displacement, based on the theoretical stress-displacement relation. In practice mode identification by frequencies alone is very difficult/ because the eigenfrequencies of complex structures are rather close to each other and especially in this case, the number of measuring points is not sufficient. For the purpose of instantaneous stress evaluation therefore two additional methods have been developed: - a modified modal superposition, and - a mode elimination methode. If the very rough methods applied, yield stresses exceeding allowable values, a detailed analysis of the measured data becomes necessary. Within this analysis e.g., the evaluated maximum amplitudes will be replaced by cumulated amplitude functions (Fig. 4). Planned Activities within the SNR2-Program Because the SNR2 design is simular to that of the SPX, simular vibrational problems will be expected (Fig. 10). Based on the french experience with SPX, the activities in the near future will be devoted to the following main problems: - lay out of a vibration measuring system for start up measurements

-13- fluid structure interactions - weir flow and fluidelastic instabilities of tank internals

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EVALUATION PROCEDURE FOR VIBRATIONAL LOADS ON SNR 300 COMPONENTS

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