A Generalized Critical Heat Flux Correlation for CANDU Fuel Geometries

Abstract

A generalized non-dimensional critical heat flux correlation is developed. The correlation can be applied for any coolant, geometry, orientation and uniform or non-uniform axial, circumferential or radial flux profiles. The correlation is also applicable for subcooled and quality conditions. The correlation agrees very well with various available critical heat flux data. It is used to predict the critical channel power for Bruce NGS A and Pickering NGS A using various flux shapes. In most cases, the developed correlation results in larger critical channel powers than those predicted using 37-element flux corrected correlation and 28-element local conditions correlation.