Risks for Flow Induced Vibrations (FIV) at EPU

This work deals with risk areas for flow induced vibration at extended power uprate, EPU. The focus is on the mechanisms of excitation in one phase relevant for Swedish BWRs and PWRs. FIV-events that have occurred in nuclear power plants over the world have been collected and categorized. The most relevant events for EPU are summarized to: vibrations in steam systems due to turbulence or vortex shedding and resonance, vibrations of internal parts and also thermal mixers and sleeves or in valves and vibrations of tube banks in partial or full cross flow. Based on the collected events and some semi-empirical methods, a simple search list for FIV by power uprate has been developed. In principle these changes lead to increased risks: changed flow velocity, decreased water temperature and increased steam temperature and decreased structural damping, mass or stiffness. In addition to that, the typical collected events should be regarded.Copyright © 2008 by ASME