Abstract
Feedwater heaters of many nuclear power plants have recently experienced severe wall thinning damage, which will increase as operating time progresses. Several nuclear power plants in Korea have experienced wall thinning damage in the area around the impingement baffle-installed downstream of the high pressure turbine extraction steam line- inside number 5A and 5B feedwater heaters. At that point, the extracted steam from the high pressure turbine is two phase fluid at high temperature, high pressure, and high speed. Since it flows in reverse direction after impinging the impingement baffle, the shell wall of the number 5 high pressure feedwater heater may be affected by flow-accelerated corrosion. This paper describes the comparisons between the numerical results using the FLUENT code and the down scale experimental data on effect of geometry of the impingement baffle plate on the shell wall thinning. Additionally, a new type impingement baffle plate was installed above the impingement baffle plate in the feedwater heater and then the numerical and experimental study were performed in the same progress.