Estimation of Graphite Density and mechanical Strength of VHTR during Air-Ingress Accident

An air-ingress accident in a VHTR is anticipated to cause severe changes of graphite density and mechanical strength by oxidation process resulting in many side effects. However, the quantitative estimation has not been performed yet. In this study, the focus has been on the prediction of graphite density change and mechanical strength using a thermal hydraulic system analysis code. For analysis of the graphite density change, a simple graphite burn-off model was developed based on the similarity concept between parallel electrical circuit and graphite oxidation considering the overall changes of the graphite geometry and density. The developed model was implemented in the VHTR system analysis code, GAMMA, along with other comprehensive graphite oxidation models. As a reference reactor, GT-MHR 600 MWt reactor was selected. From the calculation, it was observed that the main oxidation process was derived 5.5 days after the accident following natural convection. The core maximum temperature reached up to 1400 C. However it never exceeded the maximum temperature criteria, 1600 C. According to the calculation results, the most oxidation occurs in the bottom reflector, so the exothermic heat generated by oxidation did not affect the core heat up. However, the oxidation process highly decreased the density of the bottom reflector making it vulnerable to mechanical stress. In fact, since the bottom reflector sustains the reactor core, the stress is highly concentrated on this part. The calculations were made for up to 11 days after the accident and 4.5% of density decrease was estimated resulting in 25% mechanical strength reduction