Damping of pressure pulsations in CANDU fuel bundles

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Piping systems used in industrial applications such as power stations and natural gas pipelines are liable to generate pressure pulsations. These often arise from the use of reciprocating pumps and/or the dynamicinstability of valves, which can act as sources of unwanted noise and vibration. If the frequencies of thesepulsating sources correspond to the resonant frequencies of the piping system, a very dangerous acousticresonance condition can result. This can produce extremely large pressure fluctuations, often several times thedynamic head of the flow in the main pipe, as well as substantial vibrations in the piping system andsurrounding components. Almost all of the acoustic damping devices that exist in literature to date have beendeveloped to mitigate pressure pulsations in ducts and piping systems that contain gas flow. However, theflow-acoustic conditions in water flow are significantly different from air flow and thus the applicability andthe effectiveness of these damping devices to mitigate pressure pulsations in CANDU fuel bundles is unclear.To bridge the knowledge gap and advance the current state-of-the-art, the main objective of this project is toinvestigate the generation and attenuation of acoustic pressure pulsations in water filled piping system anddevelop preliminary design guidelines for the implementation of acoustic dampers in piping systems of nuclearpower plants to prevent the occurrence of acoustic pressure pulsations.