IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v347y2026ics0360544226002781.html

Quantitative analysis of piping configuration effects on the hydraulic performance of the CAP1400 reactor coolant pump's core components via source term and modal decomposition methods

Author

Listed:
  • Guo, Zhenyang
  • Xiang, Xiaxia
  • Lu, Yeming
  • Wang, Xiaofang
  • Wang, Weijun

Abstract

The CAP1400 passive pressurized water reactor unit stands as the largest third-generation nuclear power facility of its kind developed in China. To elucidate the influence of piping and key equipment within the nuclear island's primary loop system on the operational characteristics of the CAP1400 reactor coolant pump (RCP), this research established a three-dimensional numerical simulation approach for the nuclear island's primary loop, based on the source term methodology. By introducing source terms and porous media models to simplify the steam generator and reactor pressure vessel, the computational bottleneck associated with simulating large-scale nuclear island full loops was effectively mitigated, thereby achieving a compromise between computational efficiency and precision. The study contrasted the hydraulic performance, pressure fluctuation, hydraulic excitation forces, entropy production distribution, and SPOD modal information of key RCP components under two operational scenarios: independent operation (RCP-I) and operation within the piping configuration system (RCP-C). The findings indicate that: (1) The simulation of the nuclear island primary-side full loop has been successfully implemented employing the source term and porous medium approach, yielding high accuracy and aligning well with experimental data. (2) Compared to the independent operation condition, the RCP within the piping configuration system exhibits a slight head increase of 0.21 m; however, its efficiency declines markedly by 2.64%, accompanied by an escalation in internal energy loss. (3) Entropy production analysis reveals that the significant increase in energy loss predominantly originates from the vane region and the inlet region, with augmentations of 77.0% and 55.4%, respectively. (4) Further examination of the SPOD modes indicates that the piping configuration prematurely induces flow separation at the impeller leading edge and exacerbates backflow in the vane outlet region, which constitutes the primary cause of the pump's overall performance deterioration and the rise in internal energy loss. This research is anticipated to offer technical support for the simulation and assessment of large-scale nuclear islands.

Suggested Citation

  • Guo, Zhenyang & Xiang, Xiaxia & Lu, Yeming & Wang, Xiaofang & Wang, Weijun, 2026. "Quantitative analysis of piping configuration effects on the hydraulic performance of the CAP1400 reactor coolant pump's core components via source term and modal decomposition methods," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:347:y:2026:i:c:s0360544226002781
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2026.140176
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544226002781
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2026.140176?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ye, Jin & Li, Wei & Wang, Xingyuan & Ji, Leilei & Agarwal, Ramesh & Lu, Zhanxiong, 2025. "Reduced-order variational Mode decomposition of transient flow fields in mixed-flow pumps during startup," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    2. Kan, Kan & Zhang, Qingying & Xu, Zhe & Zheng, Yuan & Gao, Qiang & Shen, Lian, 2022. "Energy loss mechanism due to tip leakage flow of axial flow pump as turbine under various operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    3. Guo, Zhenyang & Chen, Yanmu & Lu, Yeming & Wang, Tongjun & Wang, Xiaofang & Jiang, Xiaomo, 2024. "Application of the fast 3D simplified simulation method for the large CAP1400 nuclear island evaporator based on the coupled source term method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. José Galindo & Andrés Tiseira & Roberto Navarro & Lukas Benjamin Inhestern & Juan David Echavarría, 2022. "Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Different Rotor Tip Gaps in a Radial Turbine Operating at High Pressure Ratios Reaching Choked Flow," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-30, December.
    2. Zhao, Yun & Yuan, Shouqi & Lu, Yonggang & Liu, Zhiwang & Liu, Xiangsong & Fu, Qiang, 2025. "Research on the conversion mechanism between cold and hot performance of reactor coolant pump based on entropy production theory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    3. Liu, Yunqi & Wang, Tao & Lei, Lei & Huang, Tengfei & Guo, Qing, 2025. "Vortex characteristics and energy loss analysis of a centrifugal pump as turbine based on velocity triangles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    4. Li, Lin & Lu, Bin & Xu, Weixin & Wang, Chengyan & Wu, Jiafeng & Tan, Dapeng, 2024. "Dynamic behaviors of multiphase vortex-induced vibration for hydropower energy conversion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    5. Yifan Zhi & Qian Huang & Haonan Su & Huairui Li & Huazheng Chen & Qidi Ke & Qiang Fu, 2025. "An Analysis of the Characteristics of Internal Flow Losses of Seawater Circulation Pumps in Nuclear Power Plants Based on the Entropy Production Theory," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Xu, Zhe & Zheng, Yuan & Kan, Kan & Chen, Huixiang, 2023. "Flow instability and energy performance of a coastal axial-flow pump as turbine under the influence of upstream waves," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    7. Mu, Tong & Zhang, Rui & Xu, Hui & Fei, Zhaodan & Feng, Jiangang & Jin, Yan & Zheng, Yuan, 2023. "Improvement of energy performance of the axial-flow pump by groove flow control technology based on the entropy theory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    8. Yu, Shengping & Wang, Yuhu & Chen, Tairan & Li, Mingke & Zhang, Xiaoping & Huang, Biao & Xu, Jin & Wang, Guoyu, 2025. "An inclined groove and its optimization design method for improving the energy performance at the saddle zone of axial flow pumps," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    9. Pei, Ji & Shen, Jiawei & Wang, Wenjie & Yuan, Shouqi & Zhao, Jiantao, 2024. "Evaluating hydraulic dissipation in a reversible mixed-flow pump for micro-pumped hydro storage based on entropy production theory," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    10. Kan, Kan & Yu, Yunkuan & Zhou, Yuguo & Chen, Yu & Ye, Changliang, 2025. "Numerical investigation of multiscale flow-induced vibration and fatigue life prediction of a large Francis turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    11. Jin, Faye & Luo, Yongyao & Zhao, Qiang & Cao, Jiali & Wang, Zhengwei, 2023. "Energy loss analysis of transition simulation for a prototype reversible pump turbine during load rejection process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    12. Jia, Xiaoqi & Yang, Yutong & Li, Yupeng & Cui, Baoling & Lin, Zhe, 2025. "Study on the correlation between internal flow and sound pressure level energy characteristics of axial-flow pumps under different cavitation conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    13. Wang, Yuqi & Cheng, Li, 2025. "Research on the flow characteristics and energy variation characteristics of the outlet passage of a two-way flow pump device based on Liutex and energy balance equation method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    14. Jin, Faye & Luo, Yongyao & Wang, Zhengwei, 2024. "Research on the starting-up process of a prototype reversible pump turbine with misaligned guide vanes: An energy loss analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    15. Wang, Mengcheng & Ni, Xiang & Chen, Jiaqi & Li, Xinyu & Meng, Fan & Yang, Yang & Gu, Yandong, 2025. "Energy performance improvement of mixed flow pump based on coupling of geometric and hydrodynamic parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    16. Zhang, Bowen & Cheng, Li & Jiao, Weixuan & Zhang, Di, 2023. "Experimental and statistical analysis of the flap gate energy loss and pressure fluctuation spatiotemporal characteristics of a mixed-flow pump device," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    17. Shi, Lijian & Xue, Muzi & Xu, Pengfei & Guo, Rui & Han, Yi & Chen, Yiyu & Yang, Yi & Xia, Wenyu, 2025. "Model test and numerical simulation study on the hydraulic performance similarity theory and pressure pulsation characteristics of vertical axial flow pump device based on variable-speed and variable-angle adjustment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    18. Guo, Zhenyang & Chen, Yanmu & Lu, Yeming & Wang, Tongjun & Wang, Xiaofang & Jiang, Xiaomo, 2024. "Application of the fast 3D simplified simulation method for the large CAP1400 nuclear island evaporator based on the coupled source term method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    19. Lei, Shuaihao & Cheng, Li & Sheng, Weigao, 2024. "Study on power losses and pressure fluctuations of diffuser mixed flow pump as turbine on different power generation speeds based on energy power models," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PC).
    20. Yan, Xiaotong & Kan, Kan & Zheng, Yuan & Xu, Zhe & Rossi, Mosè & Xu, Lianchen & Chen, Huixiang, 2024. "The vortex dynamics characteristics in a pump-turbine: A rigid vorticity analysis while varying guide vane openings in turbine mode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:347:y:2026:i:c:s0360544226002781. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.