Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Engineers from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University are implementing advanced numerical methods and approaches in the design of nuclear power plants. Their use will significantly reduce the cost of constructing new nuclear power plants. The development is being conducted in partnership with JSC NIKIET and JSC Obukhov Plant, with support from the federal program "Priority 2030."
Nuclear power plant design traditionally relies on conservative, simplified mathematical models and approaches developed in the context of underdeveloped numerical methods for describing nonlinear, physically related processes. This necessitated the introduction of significant safety factors, for example, when selecting cladding thicknesses, calculating maximum loads and operating conditions, etc. SPbPU engineers are developing and implementing advanced numerical methods and approaches based on modern finite element analysis programs into the NPP design process, enabling accurate and computationally efficient description of the complex multiphysical processes occurring during NPP operation.
Specifically, Polytechnic researchers are developing methods for assessing the strength of NPP structural elements under seismic and extreme conditions. In such calculations, accurately describing the interaction between the soil foundation and the structure is particularly important. The developers used a dynamic substructure synthesis method, which allows for the condensation of a large-scale computational model consisting of tens and hundreds of thousands of elements down to a single "superelement" that fully describes the behavior of the original computational model. This significantly increases computational efficiency. By using the substructure method, the computational model of the BR-1200 reactor unit vessel (KBR RU BR-1200), consisting of over 600,000 elements, was reduced to less than 10,000, increasing the speed of determining equipment loads under seismic and other external dynamic impacts by more than 80%.
The developed methodology for modeling the "structure-foundation" system takes into account the actual spatial distribution and actual values of the dynamic stiffness and dissipative properties of the soil foundation. The applied approach enables modeling the dynamic two-way interaction of the structure's foundation slab with the soil foundation, ensuring accurate assessment of the amplitudes and spectral composition of seismic movements at the elevations of the reactor vessel base and the internal equipment.
Thanks to detailed modeling of wave processes in the soil, we were able to refine seismic load estimates and determine that the actual loads are more than half those determined using the standards incorporated into the traditional approach to their calculation. Further development and automation of the applied approaches and their integration into industry standards are planned.
"Our developments allow us to reduce the economic costs of nuclear power plant construction by reducing the metal content of structures without compromising strength, as well as identifying structural areas requiring reinforcement without expensive full-scale testing. Ultimately, all of this contributes to Russia's technological leadership in the energy sector in implementing the closed fuel cycle concept," commented Viktor Modestov, Director of the Scientific and Educational Center for Digital Engineering in Nuclear and Thermal Energy at the St. Petersburg Polytechnical School.
Leading researchers, engineers, and teachers from the Scientific and Educational Center for Digital Engineering in Nuclear and Fusion Energy at SPbPU's PISh and the SPbPU Institute of Physics and Mechanics are participating in the work: Alexey Lukin, Roman Fedorenko, Ilnar Murtazin, Alexey Kudryavtsev, Ivan Popov, Alexander Lobachev, Pavel Udalov, and Nadezhda Piskun.
Advanced engineering methods are integrated into the curriculum of the Master's program "Digital Engineering in Nuclear and Fusion Energy" (15.04.03 "Applied Mechanics"). The program is offered at the Advanced Engineering School "Digital Engineering" and was developed jointly with industrial partners: JSC Atomenergoproekt, JSC NIKIET, the A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the G.I. Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The future plans of the specialists at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University include developing a method for calculating the vibration strength of the reactor block housing, taking into account the two-way hydroelastic interaction of the structural elements with the liquid metal coolant.
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an accurate account of the source's assertions and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.