IntegrateddesignapproachofthepebbleBeDmodularreactorusingmodelsOriginalResearchArticle

Thepebblebedmodularreactor(PBMR)isthefirstpebblebedreactorthatwillbeutilisedinahightemperaturedirectBraytoncycleconfiguration.ThisimpliesthatthereareanumberofuniquefeaturesinthePBMRthatextendfromtheGermanexperiencebase.OneofthechallengesinthedesignofthePBMRisdevelopinganunderstandingoftheexpectedbehaviourofthereactorthroughanalysesandsimulationsandmanagingtheintegrateddesignprocessbetweenthedesigners,thephysicistsandtheanalysts. Thisintegrateddesignprocessismanagedthroughmodel-baseddevelopmentwork.Three-dimensionalCADmodelsareconstructedofthecomponentsandpartsinthereactor.FromtheCADmodels,CFDmodels,neutronicmodels,shieldingmodels,FEMmodelsandotherthermodynamicmodelsarederived.Thesemodelsrangefromverysimplemodelstoextremelydetailedandcomplexmodels.Themodelsareusedinlegacysoftwareaswellascommercialoff-the-shelfsoftware.Thedifferentmodelsarealsousedincode-to-codecomparisonstoverifytheresults. Thispaperwillbrieflydiscussthedifferentmodelsandtheinteractionbetweenthemodels,andhowthemodelsareusedintheiterativedesignprocessthatisusedinthedevelopmentofthereactoratPBMR.