Research on numerical simulation method of water hammer effect analysis

<bold>Background</bold>The generation of water hammer is usually accompanied by significant pressure fluctuations. Excessively high pressure poses a challenge to the structural integrity of the reactor. Accurately obtaining pressure wave propagation data under the water hammer effect is crucial for conducting structural load analysis and assessment.<bold>Purpose</bold>This study aims to develop a numerical simulation method for the pressure wave propagation of single-phase water hammers with a pressure wave propagation analysis code for a one-dimensional single-phase water hammer.<bold>Methods</bold>First of all, based on the Finite Volume Method (FVM), a preliminary water hammer pressure wave propagation analysis program was developed, and a "vapor-liquid" compressible "two fluid - three equation" model was established for specific single-phase water hammer problems. Subsequently, the state equation was solved using a time step three-step partitioning algorithm with pressure iteration as the core. Then, the typical single-phase water shock tube benchmark example was adopted as the verification object, and the node sensitivity was analyzed using the newly developed code. Finally, the pressure and velocity distributions in the shock tube at two distinct time instants were analyzed on the basis of sensitivity analysis results and validated with the simulation results obtained from the RELAP5 code and the analytical solution.<bold>Results</bold>Simulation results obtained by newly developed code are in good agreement with that of the RELAP5 code, and showing relatively low numerical dissipation when simulating water hammer pressure transients, hence being closer to the analytical solution.<bold>Conclusions</bold>Results of this study verify the feasibility and accuracy of the model and algorithm of the developed code, it can be used to accurately simulate the pressure transient of a one-dimensional single-phase water hammer.