Modeling of pipe break accident in a district heating system using RELAP5 computer code

Reliability of a district heat supply system is a very important factor. However, accidents are inevitable and they occur due to various reasons, therefore it is necessary to have possibility to evaluate the consequences of possible accidents. This paper demonstrated the capabilities of developed district heating network model (for RELAP5 code) to analyze dynamic processes taking place in the network. A pipe break in a water supply line accident scenario in Kaunas city (Lithuania) heating network is presented in this paper. The results of this case study were used to demonstrate a possibility of the break location identification by pressure decrease propagation in the network.

► Nuclear reactor accident analysis code RELAP5 was applied for accident analysis in a district heating network.
► Pipe break accident scenario in Kaunas city (Lithuania) district heating network has been analyzed.
► An innovative method of pipe break location identification by pressure-time data is proposed.