Benchmarking Computational Fluid Dynamics for Application to PWR Fuel

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2002

OSTI ID:21072813

Smith, III, L D; Conner, M E ^[1]; Liu, B; Dzodzo, B; Paramonov, D V ^[2]; Beasley, D E; Langford, H M; Holloway, M V ^[3]

---

1. Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel (United States)
2. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Science and Technology Center, 1310 Beulah Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235-5098 (United States)
3. Thermal-Fluid Sciences Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 (United States)

The present study demonstrates a process used to develop confidence in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a tool to investigate flow and temperature distributions in a PWR fuel bundle. The velocity and temperature fields produced by a mixing spacer grid of a PWR fuel assembly are quite complex. Before using CFD to evaluate these flow fields, a rigorous benchmarking effort should be performed to ensure that reasonable results are obtained. Westinghouse has developed a method to quantitatively benchmark CFD tools against data at conditions representative of the PWR. Several measurements in a 5 x 5 rod bundle were performed. Lateral flow-field testing employed visualization techniques and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Heat transfer testing involved measurements of the single-phase heat transfer coefficient downstream of the spacer grid. These test results were used to compare with CFD predictions. Among the parameters optimized in the CFD models based on this comparison with data include computational mesh, turbulence model, and boundary conditions. As an outcome of this effort, a methodology was developed for CFD modeling that provides confidence in the numerical results. (authors)

• Research Organization: The ASME Foundation, Inc., Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21072813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BENCHMARKS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
FLUID MECHANICS
FUEL ELEMENT CLUSTERS
GRIDS
HEAT TRANSFER
NUCLEAR INDUSTRY
PWR TYPE REACTORS
SPACERS
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
TESTING
TOOLS