Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Analysis of turbulence intensity and coolant droplet behavior around spacers in a BWR fuel assembly

Journal Article · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
OSTI ID:186720

A subchannel analysis code has been developed to survey the critical power of a wide variety of boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel bundle designs. The code is based on a film flow model, which calculates the depletion of the liquid film flow along the fuel rod surface. Fuel spacers are supposed to influence bundle critical power by enhancing the coolant droplet deposition onto the liquid film. In the code, the spacer influence is expressed by experimentally defined coefficients. Hence, a mechanistic model of the spacer effects is desired to extend the applicability of the code. In a previous study, dispersed flow around a spacer flow tab was analyzed. The coolant droplets deposited on fuel rod surfaces due to flow deflection by the spacer flow tab, but the turbulence influence was not taken into consideration. In this study, the turbulence intensity and the coolant droplet behavior downstream from the spacers were evaluated by using the turbulent flow analysis code.

OSTI ID:
186720
Report Number(s):
CONF-950601--
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 72; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Analysis of the effect of spacer shape on coolant flow in a nuclear fuel assembly
Conference · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) · OSTI ID:7058225

Space effect on liquid film flow in a BWR fuel bundle
Conference · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1990 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) · OSTI ID:5779158

Development of high performance BWR spacer
Book · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · OSTI ID:251022