Dr. Brian Woods
Department Head
School of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Oregon State University

Abstract

The Oregon State University (OSU) High Temperature Test Facility (HTTF) is a reduced scale model of the General Atomics’ Modular High Temperature Gas Reactor (MHTGR).  It is a reduced pressure facility scaled ¼ by height and ¼ by diameter operating at prototypical temperatures.  The HTTF has been scaled and designed primarily to examine the behavior of the MHTGR during the Depressurized Conduction Cooldown (DCC) event. It has also been designed and instrumented to collect validation data for the event.  The Hierarchical Two-Tiered Scaling Methodology was used to scale the facility. In addition to the loop scaling, this scaling analysis examined conduction heat transfer through the core, reflectors and vessel as well as radiation heat transfer through the reactor cavity.  The HTTF was designed to be flexible enough to allow for its application to a number of break scenarios with a variety of sizes, locations and orientations. This presentation will examine in detail the results of one of the DCC tests conducted at the HTTF—”PG-26 Low Power (<350kW) Double Ended Inlet-Outlet Crossover Duct Break, 2 Heaters”.  This test follows the progression of the DCC event through a number of post-blowdown phases: (1) air ingress by exchange flow, (2) air ingress through molecular diffusion, and (3) onset of natural circulation.

Biography

Dr. Brian Woods is the School Head of and Professor in the School of Nuclear Science and Engineering. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (1988) from the University of Virginia, an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering (1999) from the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering (2001) from the University of Maryland. His areas of interest include experimental and computational fluid dynamics, nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics, and reactor safety.

Dr. Woods has worked at the U.S. Department of Energy as an engineer within the Office of Environmental Restoration as well as serving for four years in the U.S. Navy as a diver. Prior to coming to Oregon State he worked as a Nuclear Safety Analyst at Dominion Energy’s Innsbrook Technical Center outside of Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Woods has been at Oregon State University since 2003 teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on applied thermal-hydraulics, nuclear reactor safety, fluid dynamics, nuclear rules and regulations, and the societal aspects of nuclear technology.

Dr. Woods has been actively involved in thermal hydraulics and reactor safety research projects sponsored by the NRC, DOE, INL, IAEA, Westinghouse, NuScale, Kairos Power, TerraPower, and General Atomics. He has authored over 140 technical publications. He is a past chair of the American Nuclear Society’s Thermal Hydraulics Division and a founding member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s VVUQ 30 subcommittee on Verification and Validation in computational simulation of nuclear system thermal fluid behavior.

Thursday, November 30. 2023
4:00 pm seminar

zoom link upon request

BU 1202