Apoint-hydraulicsmodelforflowstabilityanalysisOriginalResearchArticle

Thestrongvariationofthethermal–physicalpropertiesofsupercriticalfluidsinthevicinityofthepseudo-criticallineresultsinchallengingtasksinthermal–hydraulicdesignofasupercriticalwater-cooledreactor(SCWR).Oneofthechallengingtasksistounderstandandtopredictthedynamicbehaviorandflowstabilityofsupercriticalwater-cooledsystems.Thepresentstudyintroducesanewmethod,theso-calledpoint-hydraulicsmodel(PHM),toestablishacriterionforpredictingtheonsetofaself-sustainingflowoscillationinaclosedcoolingsystem.Fourdimensionlessnumbersareclarifiedwhichaffecttheonsetofflowinstability.Basedonthismodel,stabilitymapsarederivedwhichcanbeappliedtoanykindoffluidsandoperatingconditions.ThePHMmodelisappliedtoasimplifiedsystemcooledbysupercriticalwater.Parametersaffectingtheflowstabilityarediscussed.AgoodagreementisachievedbetweenthePHMmodelandthenumericalresultsobtainedusingtheSASCcodewhichwasdevelopedspecificallyforanalyzingthedynamicbehaviorofsystemscooledbysupercriticalfluids.