Impact Factor: 0.5

Published since January 1, 1987

Kerntechnik

Independent Journal for Nuclear Engineering

ISSN: 2195-8580

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About this journal

Kerntechnik is an independent journal for nuclear engineering (including design, operation, safety and economics of nuclear power stations, research reactors and simulators), energy systems, radiation (ionizing radiation in industry, medicine and research) and radiological protection (biological effects of ionizing radiation, the system of protection for occupational, medical and public exposures, the assessment of doses, operational protection and safety programs, management of radioactive wastes, decommissioning and regulatory requirements). For more than 75 years Kerntechnik offers original scientific and technical contributions, review papers and conference reports.
All articles are subject to thorough, independent peer review.

History

In 1956, the publisher Karl Thiemig founded the journal ATOMKERNENERGIE after the Paris Treaties of May 1955 enabled the Federal Republic of Germany to re-enter nuclear technology. The dynamic scientific development that started at that time prompted Karl Thiemig to launch a second technical journal, KERNTECHNIK. At the end of 1970, the journal ATOMPRAXIS, published by Verlag Braun, was merged into KERNTECHNIK.

In 1979, the journals ATOMKERNENERGIE and KERNTECHNIK in turn merged into one journal with the ATOMKERNENERGIE/KERNTECHNIK. When the Thiemig publishing house ceased its operations in early 1986, Carl Hanser Verlag acquired the journal and continued to publish it under the title KERNTECHNIK from 1987.

KERNTECHNIK is the only independent German journal publishing scientific articles in English in the fields of nuclear technology and radiation protection. During the last decade, KERNTECHNIK has increasingly developed into a journal respected by international experts. In order to secure KERNTECHNIK for the future, in which high visibility of publications, the impact factor and open access play an increasingly decisive role, Carl Hanser Verlag has decided to place the journal KERNTECHNIK into the hands of the very renowned and successful scientific publisher Walter de Gruyter as of 01.01.2021.

De Gruyter publishes first-class research and has done so for more than 270 years and is an international, independent publisher headquartered in Berlin. The company publishes over 1,300 new book titles each year and more than 900 journals in the humanities, social sciences, medicine, mathematics, engineering, computer sciences, natural sciences, and law, and also offers a wide range of digital media, including open access journals and books.

The publishing house is represented in international markets by its own offices or partners. As an independent scientific publisher with a long-term strategy, de Gruyter offers an almost perfect environment for KERNTECHNIK to flourish and is an excellent strategic addition to its technology and natural sciences division.

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Supplementary Materials

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Volume 89 Issue 2

April 2024

Publicly Available April 10, 2024

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

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March 12, 2024

The 34th German CFD network of competence meeting: numerical 3D simulation of reactor primary cooling circuit and containment flows

Angel Papukchiev, Berthold Schramm, Joachim Herb

Page range: 97-106

Abstract

The 34th German CFD Network of Competence Meeting was held in March 2023 at the Gesellschaft für Anlagen-und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH in Garching, Germany. Twenty-one scientific presentations, distributed in the two sessions “Simulation of Reactor Cooling Circuit Flows” and “Simulation of Reactor Containment Flows” were presented. This paper gives a short summary of the different contributions.

March 15, 2024

The European GO-VIKING project on flow-induced vibrations: overview and current status

Angel Papukchiev, Kevin Zwijsen, Daniele Vivaldi, Hidajet Hadžić, Sofiane Benhamadouche, William Benguigui, Philippe Planquart

Page range: 107-123

Abstract

The interaction between cooling fluid and solid structures (rods, tubes) in nuclear power plants may lead to flow-induced vibrations (FIV), causing material fatigue, fretting wear, and eventually loss of component integrity. This can cause further safety issues as well as substantial standstill costs due to longer or unplanned outages. With the growing computational power, the application of modern 3D numerical simulation tools for the accurate prediction of FIV phenomena is rapidly increasing. In 2022, the GO-VIKING ( G athering expertise O n V ibration I mpa K t I n N uclear power G eneration) project received a grant within the Horizon Europe research and innovation funding program. Sixteen European and two US partners started their collaboration in the field of FIV experiments and analysis. Over four years, the GO-VIKING project investigates FIV phenomena occurring in nuclear reactor cores and steam generators under single- and two-phase flow conditions. The project’s main objectives are to expand the expertise in the field of FIV through generation of new experimental and high-resolution numerical data; development, improvement, and validation of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) methods for FIV evaluation; training stakeholders in the application of these methods; and synthesizing guidelines for the prediction and assessment of FIV phenomena in nuclear reactors. This paper provides an overview of the GO-VIKING objectives, scientific program, as well as of the main scientific achievements in the first project year.

March 8, 2024

CFD simulation on droplet behaviour in post-dryout region

Zihan Xia, Xu Cheng, Wei Liu

Page range: 124-132

Abstract

The investigation on heat transfer in post-dryout region is of great significance to determine the maximum wall temperature when dryout occurs. In this paper, the superheated vapor is considered as Eulerian continuous phase. With DPM (Discrete Particle Method) in the ASNSYS Fluent, droplets will be tracked with Lagrangian method. Heat, momentum and mass are exchanged between the two phases inside Eulerian control volumes. The stochastic tracking is included to investigate the effect of turbulence in the continuous phase on the droplet motion. The results show that the wall temperature profile differs a lot under different initial droplet sizes. By summary of the droplet evaporation rate, it’s found that less than 2 % evaporation happens directly on the wall surface, while evaporation mostly happens in the vapor layer near the wall.

February 23, 2024

Coupled AC²-CFD simulations for a high-pressure core melt accident scenario

Joachim Herb, Hristo V. Hristov, Thomas Steinrötter

Page range: 133-150

Abstract

Even though very unlikely to occur, severe accident scenarios in nuclear power plants have to be analyzed. During high-pressure core meltdown scenarios in a pressurized water reactor the primary circuit should fail first. Previous analyses found that a free convection flow within the vertical steam generator (SG) tubes with a simultaneous stratified gas counterflow in the hot legs could arise. This phenomenon leads to higher thermal loads on individual SG tubes which might then fail leading to a containment bypass and the release of radioactive material into the environment. Lumped parameter system codes used for safety analyses do not provide the models necessary to simulate phenomena like mixing in three-dimensional flows and could not consider local turbulence effects. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes provide such capabilities but are much more computationally expensive. Coupling of a system code with a CFD code can therefore be used to simulate such phenomena. The advantages of both approaches can be maximized by splitting up the simulation domain between the codes, depending on the expected flow conditions. The system code AC 2 coupled with the CFD code OpenFOAM was used to simulate part of the severe accident transient. Free convection in the hot leg and the U-tubes of the vertical SG was observed in case of high-pressure severe accident sequences. The thermal load of individual SG tubes has been estimated from the results. These loads can be used as inputs for structural-mechanical analyses to estimate which part of the primary circuit would fail first.

March 29, 2024

Validation of coupled ATHLET-OpenFOAM simulation on a large-scale single- and two-phase flow experiment

Zhi Yang, Joachim Herb, Angel Papukchiev

Page range: 151-168

Abstract

System thermal-hydraulics (STH) codes are successfully used in the last decades for design and analysis of the physical behavior of nuclear power plants (NPPs). These programs provide reliable results at comparatively low computational cost, but have limited capabilities to predict complex 3D flow phenomena, which is possible with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools. In order to combine the advantages of STH and CFD codes, algorithms to couple these are developed. At GRS, a new OpenFOAM solver, based on the volume of fluid (VOF) method, was developed together with new coupling boundary conditions to couple the CFD program OpenFOAM with the system code ATHLET. In a next step, verification and validation activities were carried out. These included the analysis of a Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) scenario. For this purpose, data from the OECD/NEA ROSA V Test 1.1, carried out in the Japanese Large-Scale Test Facility (LSTF) was used. The experiment investigated the temperature stratification after emergency core cooling (ECC) injection under single- and two-phase natural circulation conditions in the primary cooling circuit of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). This paper discusses the results of the coupled simulations, compares the numerical results with experimental data, and identifies areas for future improvements.

March 20, 2024

CFD modelling of flashing flows for nuclear safety analysis: possibilities and challenges

Yixiang Liao

Page range: 169-184

Abstract

Because of its relevance for the safety analysis of pressurized water reactors (PWR), many research activities on flashing flows in pipes and nozzles arose from the mid of last century. Most of them have been focused on the critical mass flow rate and transient pressure or temperature fluctuations by means of experiments and system codes. Since the beginning of this century, owing to the increase in computer speed and capacity, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is being used more and more in the investigation of flashing flows, which has the advantage of providing three-dimensional insights in the internal flow structure as well as its evolution. This work presents an overview of relevant flashing scenarios in the nuclear safety analysis, and focuses on the discussion about possibilities and challenges of using CFD modelling. It is shown that a two-fluid model with the thermal phase-change model is superior to a mixture model with pressure phase-change, relaxation and equilibrium models, respectively, in terms of interfacial mass transfer, however, efforts are still required to improve the interphase heat-transfer model. Furthermore, since flashing is accompanied with high void fraction and broad bubble size ranges, a poly-disperse two-fluid model is recommended, but the effect of phase change on bubble coalescence and breakup needs further research. In addition, during flashing the flow pattern may change from single phase to bubbly flow, churn flow, annular flow, and even mist flow. The rapid change of interfacial topology as well as its influence on the applicability of closure models remains a challenge.

February 27, 2024

Implementation of the preCICE coupling interface for AC²/ATHLET

Joachim Herb, Fabian Weyermann

Page range: 185-201

Abstract

The design of new nuclear reactor types as well as the analysis of certain phenomena in existing reactors require to consider different physical models and three-dimensional phenomena like the effect of turbulence in fluids and three-dimensional (3D) heat conduction in complex structures. One-dimensional (1D) lumped parameter system codes used to simulate transients in nuclear reactors lack high-resolution models. Special codes like computational fluid dynamics (CFD) or computational structural mechanics codes (CSM) can simulate those, but they require significantly more computational resources. Therefore, different coupling methods have been developed to limit the use of computationally expensive codes to those parts of a plant where they are really needed and couple them with systems codes, which simulate the rest. The library preCICE enables simultaneous coupling of multiple simulation programs, e.g., the 3D CFD code OpenFOAM and the 3D CSM code CalculiX. preCICE coupling interfaces were developed for the system code ATHLET. We focused on fluid-fluid couplings and conjugate heat-transfer couplings. Coupled simulations were performed for an experiment at the test facility TALL for the transition from forced to natural circulation coupling ATHLET with OpenFOAM, and a generic building condenser geometry coupling the three codes ATHLET, CalculiX, and OpenFOAM. The correct integral transfer of the quantities at the coupling interfaces was verified. However, it was found that coupled quantities at the interfaces need to be converted from 0D to 2D and backwards considering the underlying physics, which goes beyond the pure numerical considerations of the preCICE library.

March 22, 2024

Large-scale PANDA facility – radiation experiments and CFD calculations

Ralf Kapulla, Stephan Kelm, Ulrich Doll, Xiongguo Liu, Sidhart Paranjape, Domenico Paladino

Page range: 202-217

Abstract

CFD modelling of the thermo-hydraulic phenomena in the containment during the various phases of a severe accident necessarily requires consideration of radiative heat transfer – in the presence of steam. These radiative phenomena include (i) energy transfer within the gas mixture and (ii) between the gas and surrounding structures. Preliminary calculations carried out for these types of experiments within the OECD/NEA HYMERES-2 project with the CFD code containmentFOAM using a Monte Carlo solver for thermal radiation, demonstrated that the radiative heat transfer is significant even for very small amounts of vapour in the range of ≈0.1 % to ≈2 %. For this reason, the test matrix was tailored to the two opposite extremes: either gas compositions with a low vapour/steam content, where radiative heat transfer can be neglected, or gas mixtures with higher vapour contents, so that radiative heat transfer plays a dominant role. For the selected experiments of the H2P2 series and the corresponding CFD calculations, a vessel with a diameter of 4 m and a height of 8 m was preconditioned with different air-vapour mixtures (a) at room temperature and (b) elevated temperatures. A stable helium layer was then built-up in the upper part of the vessel. The gas was then compressed by injecting helium from above which resembles with best efforts a compression with a piston in a cylinder. This results in a height-dependent and transient increase of the gas temperature. These experiments and the associated CFD calculations were developed to isolate the phenomena of thermal radiation as good as possible from convective and diffusive effects – within the always present experimental limitations. For the reference experiment with ‘dry conditions’ corresponding to the lowest experimentally possible humidity of ≈0.1 %, we show that the use of a model without radiation provides the best agreement between the experimental and numerical results. For the much higher steam content of ≈60 %, the statistical narrow band correlated-k model (SNBCK), non-gray gas model, is the best candidate for future calculations – with computationally forgivable additional effort. We also provide with the Filtered Rayleigh Scattering technique (FRS) an outlook for a possible future instrumentation approach to better meet the requirements of the CFD community.

March 29, 2024

Overview on GRS CFD activities related to containment applications

Jörn Stewering, Berthold Schramm, Sara Beck

Page range: 218-223

Abstract

In the case of a severe accident in a nuclear power plant, hydrogen could be produced in the superheated reactor core. The hydrogen could flow through a leak in the primary circuit into the containment and a hydrogen deflagration could occur. A consequence of such an event was the Fukushima accident in 2011. For the analysis of such events, different phenomena in the reactor containment must be simulated correctly such as the distribution of steam and hydrogen, steam condensation, thermal radiation, conjugated heat transfer, hydrogen recombination and deflagration. The application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods for such analyses is becoming more relevant. Selected models needed to simulate the different containment phenomena with OpenFOAM are currently being tested, validated or improved and further developed by a network of German research institutes and universities.

March 22, 2024

Calendar of events

Page range: 224-224

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Volume 89 (2024)

Volume 88 (2023)

Volume 87 (2022)

Volume 86 (2021)

Volume 85 (2020)

Volume 84 (2019)

Volume 83 (2018)

Volume 82 (2017)

Volume 81 (2016)

Volume 80 (2015)

Volume 79 (2014)

Volume 78 (2013)

Volume 77 (2012)

Volume 76 (2011)

Volume 75 (2010)

Volume 74 (2009)

Volume 73 (2008)

Volume 72 (2007)

Volume 71 (2006)

Volume 70 (2005)

Volume 69 (2004)

Volume 68 (2003)

Volume 67 (2002)

Volume 66 (2001)

Volume 65 (2000)

Volume 64 (1999)

Volume 63 (1998)

Volume 62 (1997)

Volume 61 (1996)

Volume 60 (1995)

Volume 59 (1994)

Volume 58 (1993)

Volume 57 (1992)

Volume 56 (1991)

Volume 55 (1990)

Volume 54 (1989)

Volume 53 (1989)

Volume 52 (1988)

Volume 51 (1987)

Volume 50 (1987)

Journal Impact Factor	0.5	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
5-year Journal Impact Factor	0.3	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
Journal Citation Indicator	0.18	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
CiteScore	0.7	2022, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2023)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.191	2022, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2023; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.370	2022, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2023; Data Source: Scopus)

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In the tab “Overview” in section “Supplementary Materials” you will find the Instruction for Authors, a Manuscipt Checklist as well as an overview on citation and reference style. We kindly ask you to read these instructions carefully and follow them when drafting and submitting your manuscript.　

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In this journal, authors have the option to publish their article open access under Creative Commons license. Open access allows the authors to retain copyright and share their findings with colleagues and interested parties worldwide without any restraints. The standard fee for publishing an article open access is 2,000 EUR (excl. VAT).　

Please note that authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement can publish open access without paying an article processing charge (APC) or at considerable discount. More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found here.　

Editorial

Editor-in-Chief　
Dr.-Ing. Anne Krüssenberg (Kerntechnik@degruyter.com)

Editorial Board　
Frank Apel, Heidelberg, Germany　
Attila Aszódi, Budapest, Hungary　
Xu Cheng, Karlsruhe, Germany　　
Yuri Kazansky, Obninsk, Russian Federation　
Sören Kliem, Dresden, Germany　
Horst-Michael Prasser, Zurich, Switzerland　
Piero Ravetto, Torino, Italy　
Andreas Schaffrath, Garching near Munich, Germany　
Chul-Hwa Song, Daejeon, South Korea　
Frank-Peter Weiß, Dresden, Germany　

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 2195-8580
Print ISSN: 0932-3902
Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
First published: January 1, 1987
Publication Frequency: 6 Issues per Year

Kerntechnik

Independent Journal for Nuclear Engineering

Frontmatter

The 34th German CFD network of competence meeting: numerical 3D simulation of reactor primary cooling circuit and containment flows

Abstract

The European GO-VIKING project on flow-induced vibrations: overview and current status

Abstract

CFD simulation on droplet behaviour in post-dryout region

Abstract

Coupled AC2-CFD simulations for a high-pressure core melt accident scenario

Abstract

Validation of coupled ATHLET-OpenFOAM simulation on a large-scale single- and two-phase flow experiment

Abstract

CFD modelling of flashing flows for nuclear safety analysis: possibilities and challenges

Abstract

Implementation of the preCICE coupling interface for AC2/ATHLET

Abstract

Large-scale PANDA facility – radiation experiments and CFD calculations

Abstract

Overview on GRS CFD activities related to containment applications

Abstract

Calendar of events

Coupled AC²-CFD simulations for a high-pressure core melt accident scenario

Implementation of the preCICE coupling interface for AC²/ATHLET