CFD methodology and validation for single-phase flow in PWR fuel assemblies

Conner, Michael E.; Baglietto, Emilio; Elmahdi, Abdelaziz M.

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2009.11.031

Cited by 99 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, single-phase CFD codes have been used to predict fluid flow in fuel channels of both pressurized water reactors (PWR) [1] and sodium fast reactors (SFR) [2]. However, a whole core simulation with explicit representation of wire wraps and spacer grids would require tens of billions of computational cells and remains impractical for the near term.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy for Multi-Scale Single-Phase Flow Coupling

Hu¹,

Thomas²,

Fanning³

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYFor practical nuclear engineering applications, multi-scale analysis by adopting the combined use of different scale computational tools, such as system thermal-hydraulics and CFD codes is vital when three-dimensional effects play an important role in the evolution of a given transient or accident scenario. The feasibility of coupling low-fidelity systems codes with higher fidelity CFD tools was demonstrated previously under NEAMS by coupling SAS4A/SASSYS-1 with the commercial CFD code STAR-CD and STAR-CCM+. An "adhoc" coupling strategy was implemented. With the advances in numerical techniques and software engineering, such as the availability of PETSc and MOOSE, modernization of existing systems codes or the development of new system code becomes more compelling. MOOSE (Multi-physics Object Oriented Simulation Environment) is a parallel computational framework developed at INL for enabling the solution of complex, fully-implicit multiphysics systems. It has been utilized in many nuclear applications including the system analysis codes RELAP-7 and the SFR module under current NEAMS Reactor Product Line (RPL). This motivates the development of a coupled scheme for MOOSE-based system analysis code and the commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+. STAR-CCM+ is a generalpurpose commercial CFD code using finite volume formulation for the analysis of compressible and incompressible flows and heat transfer, and it is being included in the toolkit of the NEAMS RPL. This investigation is important for the integration between the MOOSE-based system codes and the high-fidelity advanced simulation capabilities developed under the NEAMS RPL.Careful control of data exchange flow and the time-synchronization is essential for a numerically stable, and physically valid coupled code simulation. The general issues of coupling of system code and CFD code have been addressed in this report, including data exchange method, driving mechanism, time synchronization scheme, and the selection of data for exchange. Then the coupling strategy between the MOOSE-based system analysis code for SFR and CFD code STAR-CCM+ was derived and implemented based on these considerations and the characteristics of each code. The developed strategy for the coupling of MOOSE-based system codes and STAR-CCM+ is applicable to other multi-scale or multiphysics code coupling applications. A simple test model was developed to examine the coupling strategy and its implementation in the system code and CFD code. The flow loop of the test model consists of one tank, one pump, and four pipes. In the coupled simulation, the tank, with cover gas, was modeled by STAR-CCM+, while the rest of the hydraulic loop was modeled by the system code. The coupling strategy was demonstrated by the three test cases: steady state, flow transient, and temperature transient. Stand-alone system code simulations have also been performed to examine the differences and consistency between the couple code and standalone system code simulations.In steady-state simulations, the press...

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy for Multi-Scale Single-Phase Flow Coupling

Hu¹,

Thomas²,

Fanning³

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The experimental results indicated that unknown flow distributions developed by the spacer grids could be captured by the experiments and these results could be used as fundamental information of the CFD calculation. On the other hand, the CFD calculation methodologies based on the experimental studies have been widely conducted [6,7]. The lateral field velocity along the flow direction in a single subchannel showed good agreement between the PIV and the CFD results, by comparing the center of vortices, same vortex rotation, same rod swirling flow, and same inter-assembly flow direction in gap.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Swirling performance of flow-driven rotating mixing vane toward critical heat flux enhancement

Seo

Park

Seo

et al. 2015

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The necessary refinement of the mesh near the walls and the choice of the type of wall treatment applied depend on the thickness and other characteristics of the boundary layer, and on the local turbulence [17]. For the turbulent flow regime of the case studied in this paper, the two most appropriate approaches are the high y+ and the two-layer all y+ wall treatments [20]. Both these two treatments assume that the near-wall cell lies within the boundary layer, i.e.…”

Section: Meshmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD analysis of localized crud effects on the flow of coolant in nuclear rod bundles

Cinosi

Walker

2016

Nuclear Engineering and Design

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It has been suggested that crud deposits on a number of adjacent fuel rods might reduce coolant flow rates in associated sub-channels. Such reduced flow rates could then worsen thermal-hydraulic conditions, such as margin to saturated boiling, fuel surface temperature, and the DNB ratio. We report the results of a detailed computational fluid dynamics study of the flow pattern in a partially-crudded rod bundle. Values obviously depend on, for example, the thickness of crud assumed, but sub-channel flow rate reductions of ~10% were predicted by this analysis. However, this mass flow rate reduction was found to be more than offset by improved heat transfer induced by the relatively rough surface of the crud. Cladding temperatures were predicted to be essentially unchanged, and the DNBR was similarly little altered. We conclude that such flow reduction and diversion is not likely to be of concern.

show abstract

CFD methodology and validation for single-phase flow in PWR fuel assemblies

Cited by 99 publications

References 7 publications

Strategy for Multi-Scale Single-Phase Flow Coupling

Strategy for Multi-Scale Single-Phase Flow Coupling

Swirling performance of flow-driven rotating mixing vane toward critical heat flux enhancement

CFD analysis of localized crud effects on the flow of coolant in nuclear rod bundles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About