Mathematical modelling of hydrogen leakage in containment area of NPP reactor building with VVER-1200

Introduction. The patterns of hydrogen-air mixtures formation during the flow of hydrogen into the upper part of a large volume room in the initial moments of time are insufficiently studied. Therefore, the determination of regularities of formation of local explosive and fire-hazardous hydrogen-air mixtures when hydrogen flows into the lower part of the dome space of the reactor building is important.

Goals and objectives. The purpose of the article is a theoretical study of occurrence of local fire and explosive zones of the hydrogen-air mixture generated during hydrogen leakage in the containment area of the reactor building in order to substantiate parameters of concentration sensors of the hydrogen concentration control system.
To achieve it, a zone mathematical model of hydrogen concentration calculation in a pressurized room has been developed. Numerical experiments on regularities of hydrogen-air mixtures formation have been carried out.

Theoretical basis. The generalized three-dimensional non-stationary differential equation of the laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy is used to calculate local hydrogen concentration fields. The developed zone model makes it possible to determine hydrogen concentrations in the convective column and in the ceiling layer.

Results and discussion. The characteristic fields of hydrogen mass concentrations in the volume of the dome space are obtained. It has been shown that at the initial stage of hydrogen leakage, a zone of the ceiling layer is formed under the ceiling of the dome space, which confirms the validity of the usage of the zone model. The hydrogen concentrations obtained by the field and zone models are compared. The distributions of hydrogen mass concentration along the convective column height at different Reynolds numbers in the hydrogen leakage hole have been obtained. It has been shown that hydrogen concentration sensors can detect a hydrogen leakage mode in the dome space only in a narrow area of Reynolds Re = 900–5,000. There is a leakage mode (Re = 3,358), in which the maximum hydrogen volume concentration is generated at the location of the concentration sensors at the maximum size of the fire and explosive hydrogen-air mixture zones in the room.

Conclusions. The hydrogen concentration sensors used in the dome space of the NPP reactor building with water-­water reactors may not detect hydrogen at the top point of the dome at a sensitivity threshold of 2 % vol. In this case, in terms of the height of the convective column, hydrogen-air mixtures are formed within the fire and explosive concentration limits.

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