Evaluation of the Acoustic Noise Inside the Main Steam Line of a BWR/5 Nuclear Reactor

The pressure fluctuation and the acoustic power generated inside the main steam line (MSL) of a BWR nuclear power plant were estimated. For this purpose, a model with a scale of 1:8 (branch–main steam line ratio) was considered. A methodology with a low computational cost was proposed in this case. It is based on the fluid–structure interaction (one-way type), using computational fluid dynamics, the finite element method, and MATLAB R2023a code. It was possible to obtain the acoustic response generated inside the MSL for different operating conditions using these three tools. These results were used to develop a prediction model with a scale of 1:8. It was validated with experimental data. The frequency of the first mode of acoustic resonance was close to 195 Hz and the peak pressure was between 1590 Pa and 1568 Pa for the experimental and numerical models, respectively. For this case, the conditions were the original license thermal operating. Finally, the predictions of the results for the pressure in conditions of extended power uprate (110% and 120%) were 1890 Pa and 2240 Pa, respectively.