Analysis of pressure oscillations and safety relief valve vibrations in the main steam system of a Boiling Water Reactor

Steam flow inside the main steam lines of a Boiling Water Reactor can generate high-amplitude pressure oscillations due to coupling between the separated shear layer at the mouth of the safety relief valves (SRVs) and the acoustic modes of the side branches where the SRVs are mounted. It is known that certain combinations of flow velocities and main steam line geometries are capable of generating self-excited pressure oscillations with very high amplitudes, which can endanger the structural integrity of main steam system components, such as safety valves, or reactor internals such as steam dryers. However, main steam systems may also experience lower amplitude pressure oscillations due, for example, to coupling of higher order hydrodynamic modes with acoustic cavity modes, or to incipient resonances where the free stream velocity is slightly lower than the critical flow velocity required to develop a stable locked-on acoustic resonance. The amplitude of these pressure oscillations is typically insufficient to cause readily observable structural damage to main steam system components, but may still have subtle effects on safety relief valves. The investigation presented in this article focuses on the characterization of the response of SRVs under the effects of pressure oscillations associated with acoustic excitations that are insufficient to cause structural damage to the valves or associated equipment. It is shown that valve internals exhibit non-periodic impulsive vibratory behavior when submitted to a continuous sinusoidal pressure oscillation caused by acoustic resonances inside the SRV standpipes. These acceleration peaks are caused by small impacts between the valve disc and nozzle surface.