Abstract:

The single-orifice plate is extensively employed in nuclear power plant piping systems for fluid throttling and depressurization, yet the cavitation it induces can lead to significant pipeline vibrations. This study aims to identify optimal single-orifice plate designs with minimized cavitation potential. A novel single-orifice plate featuring a convergent-flat-divergent hole was modeled, and a multi-objective optimization approach was proposed to refine its shape. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods were utilized to capture fluid dynamics, with cavitation indexes such as the reciprocal cavitation number and the developmental integral serving as objectives for the optimization algorithm. Through this process, two non-dominant designs were identified, showcasing considerable reductions in cavitation indexes at a Reynolds number (Re) of 1 * 105 based on fluid velocity.

Description:

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