Scaling rationale design and extrapolation problem for ITF and SETF

Mascari, F.*; Nakamura, Hideo  ; De Rosa, F.*; D'Auria, F.*

In the development and safety evaluation of LWRs, thermal hydraulic analysis of the reactor, containment and their coupling is essential to understand the accident phenomena. To reproduce the behavior in a scaled model, it is necessary to properly characterize thermal hydraulics both in the local and integral responses. The facility geometry and test conditions should then be correctly derived according to scaling laws to avoid scaling distortions that could compromise the target phenomena identified by PIRT process. Many scaling approach and methods have thus been developed. Together with the scaling analysis, computer codes may be used in supporting the design of test facilities, assessing the scale distortions, and verifying the selected scaling method. However, since the closure laws in the computer code are mainly based on scaled test data, the extrapolation of code results remains a challenging and open issue. This paper provides some insights about the methods used in the scaling.