skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Evaluation of CFD Methods for Simulation of Two-Phase Boiling Flow Phenomena in a Helical Coil Steam Generator

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy charges participants in the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program with the development of advanced modeling and simulation capabilities that can be used to address design, performance and safety challenges in the development and deployment of advanced reactor technology. The NEAMS has established a high impact problem (HIP) team to demonstrate the applicability of these tools to identification and mitigation of sources of steam generator flow induced vibration (SGFIV). The SGFIV HIP team is working to evaluate vibration sources in an advanced helical coil steam generator using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the turbulent primary coolant flow over the outside of the tubes and CFD simulations of the turbulent multiphase boiling secondary coolant flow inside the tubes integrated with high resolution finite element method assessments of the tubes and their associated structural supports. This report summarizes the demonstration of a methodology for the multiphase boiling flow analysis inside the helical coil steam generator tube. A helical coil steam generator configuration has been defined based on the experiments completed by Polytecnico di Milano in the SIET helical coil steam generator tube facility. Simulations of the defined problem have beenmore » completed using the Eulerian-Eulerian multi-fluid modeling capabilities of the commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+. Simulations suggest that the two phases will quickly stratify in the slightly inclined pipe of the helical coil steam generator. These results have been successfully benchmarked against both empirical correlations for pressure drop and simulations using an alternate CFD methodology, the dispersed phase mixture modeling capabilities of the open source CFD code Nek5000.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1335356
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-2016/612
NT0512000; NENT026; TRN: US1700827
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; STEAM GENERATORS; FINITE ELEMENT METHOD; BOILING; PRIMARY COOLANT CIRCUITS; TUBES; FLUID MECHANICS; EVALUATION; SUPPORTS; PRESSURE DROP; MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS; BENCHMARKS; CORRELATIONS; DESIGN; MITIGATION; PERFORMANCE; HELICAL CONFIGURATION; TURBULENT FLOW; TWO-PHASE FLOW

Citation Formats

Pointer, William David, Shaver, Dillon, Liu, Yang, Vegendla, Prasad, and Tentner, Adrian. Evaluation of CFD Methods for Simulation of Two-Phase Boiling Flow Phenomena in a Helical Coil Steam Generator. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.2172/1335356.
Pointer, William David, Shaver, Dillon, Liu, Yang, Vegendla, Prasad, & Tentner, Adrian. Evaluation of CFD Methods for Simulation of Two-Phase Boiling Flow Phenomena in a Helical Coil Steam Generator. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1335356
Pointer, William David, Shaver, Dillon, Liu, Yang, Vegendla, Prasad, and Tentner, Adrian. 2016. "Evaluation of CFD Methods for Simulation of Two-Phase Boiling Flow Phenomena in a Helical Coil Steam Generator". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1335356. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1335356.
@article{osti_1335356,
title = {Evaluation of CFD Methods for Simulation of Two-Phase Boiling Flow Phenomena in a Helical Coil Steam Generator},
author = {Pointer, William David and Shaver, Dillon and Liu, Yang and Vegendla, Prasad and Tentner, Adrian},
abstractNote = {The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy charges participants in the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program with the development of advanced modeling and simulation capabilities that can be used to address design, performance and safety challenges in the development and deployment of advanced reactor technology. The NEAMS has established a high impact problem (HIP) team to demonstrate the applicability of these tools to identification and mitigation of sources of steam generator flow induced vibration (SGFIV). The SGFIV HIP team is working to evaluate vibration sources in an advanced helical coil steam generator using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the turbulent primary coolant flow over the outside of the tubes and CFD simulations of the turbulent multiphase boiling secondary coolant flow inside the tubes integrated with high resolution finite element method assessments of the tubes and their associated structural supports. This report summarizes the demonstration of a methodology for the multiphase boiling flow analysis inside the helical coil steam generator tube. A helical coil steam generator configuration has been defined based on the experiments completed by Polytecnico di Milano in the SIET helical coil steam generator tube facility. Simulations of the defined problem have been completed using the Eulerian-Eulerian multi-fluid modeling capabilities of the commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+. Simulations suggest that the two phases will quickly stratify in the slightly inclined pipe of the helical coil steam generator. These results have been successfully benchmarked against both empirical correlations for pressure drop and simulations using an alternate CFD methodology, the dispersed phase mixture modeling capabilities of the open source CFD code Nek5000.},
doi = {10.2172/1335356},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1335356}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}