И з в е с т и я в у з о в • Я д е р н а я э н е р г е т и к а • № 1 • 2 0 2 1 83

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The paper considers the problem of selecting a turbulence model to simulate natural convection near the surface of a VVER-1000 fuel assembly unloaded from the reactor by computational fluid dynamics (CFD simulation) methods. The turbulence model is selected by comparing the calculated data obtained using the Ansys Fluent software package with the results of experimental studies on the natural convection near the surface of a heated vertical plate immersed in water, which simulates the side face of the VVER-1000 fuel assembly in a first approximation. Two-parameter semi-empirical models of turbulence, k-ε and k-ω, are considered as those most commonly used in engineering design. The calculated and experimental data were compared based on the excessive temperature of the plate surface and the water temperature profiles in the turbulent boundary layer for convection modes with a Rayleigh number of 8∙1013 to 3.28∙1014. It has been shown that the best agreement with experimental data, with an average deviation not exceeding ~ 8%, is provided by the RNG k-ε model which is recommended to be used to simulate natural convection near the surface of VVER-1000 FAs in the NPP spent fuel storage pool.

Engineering formulas are presented for calculating the value of methodological error in measuring the distances from the ultrasonic sensor to the surface of the irradiated fuel assembly of WWER-1000 caused by decay heat from the fuel assembly. The methodical error arises due to the water temperature gradient along ultrasonic wave path. This is due to the presence of natural convection at the surface of the fuel assembly discharged from the reactor into cooling pool at nuclear power plant. The paper presents a methodology for calculating the methodical error. It is assumed that the water temperature between the sensor and the surface of the fuel assembly is determined by convective heat transfer between the fuel assembly and the water in cooling pool at nuclear power plant. The surface of VVER-1000 fuel assemblies is modeled by a flat vertical plate with a uniform surface heat flux. The propagation of an ultrasonic wave in a medium between the surface of a fuel assembly and an ultrasonic sensor is described in the approximation of geometric acoustics. The results of numerical calculations according to the presented method are executed in the form of nomograms. Engineering formulas for calculating the value of methodological error are obtained by processing an array of calculated data. The obtained formulas are used in the development of measuring systems for monitoring the deformation of fuel assemblies of WWER-1000 in cooling pond of nuclear power plant.

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