Comparative study on water thermodynamic property functions of TRACE code

Abstract The calculation scheme of water thermodynamic properties is an important part of the system analysis code, and especially it directly affects the simulation accuracy and speed of water-involved system. This paper conducts a systematic comparative study of the water thermodynamic property functions of TRACE code. By comparing the functions of the main thermodynamic properties (e.g. specific internal energy, specific enthalpy, density and constant-pressure specific heat capacity) of saturated water and steam, subcooled water and superheated steam with the functions of IF97, the value and region of the maximum relative deviation are analyzed. This paper also transplants the water thermodynamic property functions of TRACE and IF97 into RELAP5, and compares these calculation schemes of water thermodynamic properties by simulating a small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) in a typical four-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR). Through these comparative studies, it is concluded that the water thermodynamic property function library of TRACE is a suitable solution for high-speed calculation that meets the accuracy requirements of reactor accident analysis.