USER’S MANUAL

IAEA – ViSA RELAP5/3.2

Revision 1.0.1

International Atomic Energy Agency

Vienna, Austria
June 2010
 International Atomic Energy Agency and KAERI – ViSA manual

CONTENTS:

1. Sequence for the transient simulation using RELAP5 module: .............................................................. 4

2. Sequence for the replay of the previous simulation ............................................................................. 5
3. Mapping the node in nodalizatoin drawing with control volume .......................................................... 6
4. Creating Mimic template .................................................................................................................... 9
5. Unit conversion ............................................................................................................................... 11
6. Geometry Input Editor ..................................................................................................................... 12
7. Snap Function.................................................................................................................................. 13
8. Trend Graph .................................................................................................................................... 15
9. Open Input / Output File.................................................................................................................. 16
10. Interactive Control: Trip ............................................................................................................... 16
11. Interactive Control: Valve area(%), Fill flow rate, Heater ................................................................ 17
12. Control Input Editor: Not completed yet ....................................................................................... 18
Appendix: CARDS 801 – 999, INTERACTIVE INPUT DATA ...................................................... 19

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Using Visual System Analyzer(ViSA) for RELAP5

(rev. 1.0.1)

This manual provides the brief procedures to accomplish some of the major
functions in ViSA for RELAP5 as follow.

 Sequence for the transient simulation using RELAP5 module

 Sequence for the replay of the previous simulation
 Mapping the node in nodalizatoin drawing with control volume
 Creating Mimic template
 Unit conversion
 Geometry Input Editor
 Snap Function
 Trend Graph
 Open Input / Output File
 Interactive Control: Trip
 Interactive Control: Valve area, Fill flow rate, Heater
 Control Input Editor
 Appendix: Modification of RELAP5 Input Data for Interactive Control

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1. Sequence for the transient simulation using RELAP5 module:

In this procedure, user initializes the problem by defining the names for the base code
input/output files and graphic files containing the plant mimics and a nodalization diagram.
(1) Click the icon for “ViSA”
(2) Select input files using drag-and-drop or enter the input file name in Project tab (File
name extension ‘dat’ is not allowed for the input files. It is reserved for the file
related to ‘Replay’ function)
(3) Enter the name for auxiliary/output files (optional)
(4) Select Mimic template / Nodalization drawing files (optional)
(5) Click OK to load inputs and start initialization
(6) Click Run button (or select run from file menu)
(7) Enter the data saving frequency in the pop-up window

(6)

(2,3)

-Driop

-Driop
(7)
(4)

(5)

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2. Sequence for the replay of the previous simulation

Once a transient simulation is completed, one can replay it if necessary. To use replay
function, the previous calculation data file with file name extension ‘dat’ is required. For
example, if you run calculation with the input file ‘indta’, data file named ‘indta.dat’ will be
generated automatically. It is noted that the frequency of displaying data is based on the data
saving frequency in the original calculation.
(1) Select input files for replay using drag-and-drop or type the name of input files in
Project tab: Data file, which has the same name as the original input, must exist.
(2) Select Mimic template / Nodalization drawing files (optional)
(3) Click Replay button
(4) Click OK to load replay data file
(5) Click Run button (or select run from the file menu)

Speed up / down icon enabled Replay mode

(3)
(5)

(1)

-Driop

-Driop (2)

(4)

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3. Mapping the node in nodalizatoin drawing with control volume

Each volume in the nodalization diagram should be mapped, in advance, interactively
with the appropriate volume through the dialog box. Once this procedure is completed, the
mapping information is stored in ‘*.pol’ for future use. Here, the file name, ‘*’, is same as
the nodalization drawing file.
(1) Select input and nodalization drawing files in Project tab
(2) Select necessary auxiliary/output file in Project tab (optional)
(3) Enable Design mode by selecting the “design mode” menu from option menu
i. ‘Option’ ’Design mode’ and type password
ii. Default password is ‘mars’ and can be changed by user.
(4) Click OK button in Project tab to load input information
(5) Move to Nodalization tab
(6) Double-click any closed region
(7) Select the volume number from list window
(8) Repeat (6)~(7) until all volumes are defined
(9) Check the mapping information using ‘Defined?’ button
: Defined volume dark green
* Note that when you move mouse pointer to any defined region, volume number is
displayed in the status bar (Display mode can be changed by clicking ‘Mode’).
(10) Nodalization-mapping information is saved as ‘*.pol’.

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(3)

-Driop

(1,2)

(10)

(4)

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(5)

(6)

(7)

(9)
(*)

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4. Creating Mimic template

In this procedure, one can create the plant mimic window. The window shows the major
parameters of interest through some selected indicators. The background bitmap image can
be imported and users can add their-own indicators to this image. Each indicator should be
mapped with a corresponding output variable.
(1) Select input and auxiliary files except mimic template (See 1. (2)~(3))
(2) Enable Design mode from menu and Click OK in Project tab to load input (Refer to
section 3. (3)~(4))
(3) Move to the System Mimic tab (blank screen)
(4) Load the background image from menu
: ‘Design Load background’
Any bit map file can be loaded as a background image.
(5) Select the proper indicators from the indicator list
: ‘Design Add indicator’
(6) Assign value and Adjust the selected indicator as desired
(7) It is possible to assign minor edit, volume or junction properties for the chosen
indicator
(8) Save the current mimic template. ‘Design Save template as’ (*.tpl)

(4)
(5)

(6)

(7)

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(9)

(8)

Tip Once you selected the bit map file as a mimic template file before loading input, it will
be used as the backgound image file of mimic template. Therefore ‘Load background image’
processes (4. (1)~(4)) are not necessary.

There are two kinds of mimic in the latest version of ViSA. The first one is a ‘built-in mimic’.
This is a default mimic and is displayed only in the main window of ‘System mimic’ tab.
Therefore, it is not possible to check two or more mimic windows at a time. The second
mimic is a ‘stand-alone mimic’. This is an independent mimic window, so a user can see two
or more mimic window at a time. A user can load a stand-alone mimic file (*.tpl) by using the
file menu, ‘File’  ‘Open Stand-Alone Mimic’.

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5. Unit conversion
ViSA allows display-unit selection, independently of unit used in the input file. This
procedure needs to be done before loading the input data file, and can be done only while
you are in the Design mode.
(1) Select input and auxiliary files in the Project tab
(2) Enable Design mode from option menu (Refer to section 3. (3))
: Do not click OK button to load input because unit conversion should be done before
input loading
(3) Click Engineering Unit button
(4) Select the unit you want to use (Selected unit system is displayed in blue color).
It is also possible to create the new unit system through editing ‘Units_relap5.con’ in
the main program folder.
Note that, for the temperature unit, only degree Celsius is available in SI or MKS units
and Fahrenheit is the only choice in British unit. The Engineering unit button will be
disabled after loading input.

Selected unit

(4)

Current unit

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6. Geometry Input Editor

The volume and junction input data can be interactively modified. Through the dialog
box, the users can change the input data for geometry, initial conditions, calculation options,
and others. This procedure can be done only in the Design mode.
(1) Select input files in the Project tab
(2) Enable Design mode from menu (Refer to section 3. (3))
: Do not click OK because input change should be made before input loading
(3) Click ‘Geometry Input Editor’ button.
(4) Edit the selected input
Note that, if you modify the data in any card, you must save the input file before
modifying the other card or quitting the editor.

(3)

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7. Snap Function
Snap function is nearly the same as restart function except that there is no restart
frequency. During the transient simulation, several ‘snapshots’ of the transient states can
be saved in the files. One can then, later on, restart the simulation starting from the one of
the saved states.
(1) To create ‘snapshot’ file during the calculation, click ‘Snap’ button, then save it as a
snap data file (*.snap). This step can be repeated if desired.
(The snap data file contains the data to restart RELAP5 from the saved current state.)
(2) To run RELAP5 from the snap file, a special input data file (namely ‘snap-restart’) is
required. The ‘snap-restart’ file needs to have ‘-2’ as the restart number in ‘103’
card. The input is a dummy file, just for the purpose of initiation. Therefore, no
modification of the original input is allowed.
(3) Select ‘snap-restart’ input
(4) Select snap data file as restart file (*.snap)
(5) Repeat 1. (3) ~ (7)

Current time

(1)

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Restart time

(3)

(4)

(2)

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8. Trend Graph
The time variation of the user-selected variables can be displayed on the ‘Trend Graph’.
The user can select major volume and junction properties or minor edit variables through the
dialog box.
(1) Run calculation
(2) Click ‘Trend Graph’ button
(3) Select the properties from the list window
(4) If you want to save the data into the text file, Click ‘Save Data To Textfile’
(5) Trend graph appears in the separate window
(6) It is possible to resize, zoom in/out the window or change the range of the axes

(2)

(3) (4)

(6)

(5)

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9. Open Input / Output File

ViSA allows view or edit the input / output files with a text editor. UltraEdit or any
other Windows text editor can be used as editor.
(1) Click ‘Open Input File’ or ‘Open Output File’ icon

10. Interactive Control: Trip

The interactive control window is equipped with the Auto/Manual, ON/OFF switches.
When Auto is selected, the control logic supplied in the input data is in effect. However,
once Manual is selected, user can manually set the trip status as follow:
(1) During the calculation, move to the Interactive Control tab
(2) For manual control, choose the component and check ‘Manual’ box
(3) Click on/off toggle switch. ‘On’ is true and ‘Off’ is false.
(It is not possible to set the trip status automatically at a given time(sec.) by changing
the ‘Setpoint’ value.)
(4) Click ‘OK’ and check the trip status (‘Value’).

(1)

(2)

(5) : CL Break trip occurs (3) : ‘On’ selected

(4)

Trip messages

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11. Interactive Control: Valve area(%), Fill flow rate, Heater

The interactive control window is equipped with the Auto/Manual, ON/OFF switches,
and Setpoint/Rate. When Auto is selected, the control logic supplied in the input data is in
effect. However, once Manual is selected, user can manually set the target value and rate
as follows:
(1) During the calculation, move to the Interactive Control tab
(2) For manual control, choose the component and check ‘Manual’ box
(3) Enter the target value in the edit box, ‘Trip/Target’.
(4) Enter the changing rate value in the edit box, ‘Setpoint/Rate’.
(‘Rate’ : target value / seconds)
(5) Click ‘OK’ and the current value increases or decrease to the target value.

(1)

Trip messages

(3) (4)
(2)

Current value
(5)

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12. Control Input Editor: Not completed yet

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Appendix: CARDS 801 – 999, INTERACTIVE INPUT DATA

An interactive control function is available with the Visual System Analyzer (ViSA) version.
This function allows a user to interactively control the trip logic, valve area, mass flow rate of
the time-dependent junctions, and heater power.
These data may be entered for batch and interactive jobs. However, the interactive control
input data have no effects in the case of batch job. In the case of interactive jobs, an
interactive control window is provided for the interactive control. The interactive control
input data cards can be used in a NEW or RESTART job. In a restart job, these data can be
added (cannot be replaced or removed).
These cards define variables that can be interactively changed during execution by user. The
card input defines input variable names (variable code and parameter) and comments.

W1(A) Type of interactive control (alphanumeric). Enter one of the following interactive
control types; "trip" for trip control, "vlvarea" for servo valve area control, "mflowfj"
for liquid flow rate control of a time-dependent junction, "mflowgj" for vapor flow
rate control of a time-dependent junction, and "power" for heater power control.
W2(I) Parameter (numeric). The parameter is defined according to the type of interactive
Control as follows: trip card number (400 through 799) for trip control, valve
component number (ccc) for servo valve area control, time-dependent junction
number (ccc) for liquid flow rate control, time-dependent junction number (ccc) for
vapor flow rate control, and general table number (ttt) for heater power control.
W3(A) Comments (alphanumeric). Enter comments for the interactive control. The comment
should not be more than 32 characters including quotation marks. These comments
are displayed in the interactive control window.

It is noted that relevant input data should exist for interactive control. That is, for interactive
trip control, the trip input should be entered. The value of the trip is determined by user-
specified trip input if user action is not given, but upon the user action the value is manually
changed. In the same manner, a servo valve component input should be entered for valve
area control, and a time-dependent junction component input should be entered for mass
flow rate control. For heater power control, the general table input for "power" should be
prepared.

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