A symmetrical-nonuniform angular repartition strategy for the vane blades to improve the energy conversion ability of the coolant pump in the pressurized water reactor

To increase the exterior characteristics and decrease the pressure fluctuations of the coolant pump synchronously, a symmetrical-nonuniform angular repartition strategy for the vane blades was herein proposed. Firstly, for the purpose of the effective parameterization of the vane, a new parameterized method considering the blade distances and the vane install location was defined and imported. Continually, based on the parameterized method, samples in the design space were generated with the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) method. Then, with the integration of the generated database, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis, BP_Adaboost strong classifier, an optimization strategy was finally established. Taking the scale model of CAP1400 (on a scale of 1:2.5) as the reference, the symmetrical-nonuniform angular repartition strategy was applied in the practical design process, and 3 optimal samples were gotten at last. Through comparative analysis, it could be found that the new design structures have a better energy conversion ability, and the specific descriptions are as: the optimized vanes could make the coolant pump have a better exterior performance from 0.8Q(d) to 1.2Q(d) mass flow; most importantly, the unsteady analysis quantitatively demonstrated that the optimal structures could effectively decrease the pressure fluctuations, especially at the outlet of the coolant pump. The symmetrical-nonuniform angular repartition strategy for the vane blades is expected to provide a technical reference for the third-generation nuclear power plant design.