Time-Resolved PIV/PTV Measurements on Interior Subchannels of a Wire-Wrapped 61-pin Hexagonal Fuel Bundle

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:23050383

Goth, N.; Jones, P.; Lee, S.; Nguyen, D. T.; Vaghetto, R.; Hassan, Y. A. ^[1]

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1. Texas A and M Nuclear Engineering, 3133 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843 (United States)

Liquid metal fast reactor fuel bundles using sodium as a coolant typically utilize a tightly packed triangular lattice of fuel pins enclosed in a hexagonal duct. Often, the fuel pins are helically wrapped with a wire spacer. The primary function of the wire spacers is to maintain a gap between adjacent fuel pins. They also enhance sub-channel mixing to increase convective heat transfer and mitigate vortex-induced vibration. Texas A and M University has conducted isothermal flow experiments in a wire-wrapped 61-pin hexagonal fuel bundle to support the research on advanced nuclear fuel development sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE). These tests produced high spatial and temporal resolution measurements of the velocity field and pressure at different locations in the fuel bundle. The experimental facility employs matched-index-of-refraction (MIR) techniques and laser diagnostic velocity measurement techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV), particle tracking velocimetry (PTV), and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The result of this experimental activity will be an experimental database of pressure and velocity field measurements that will be suitable for validating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods, such as Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and highly resolved large eddy simulation (LES). PIV results on the set of edge subchannels near the hexagonal duct have been presented in another paper. This paper presents PIV results on two sets of interior subchannels, defined as Interior- 1 and Center-2, at a Reynolds number (Re) of 19,000 in the turbulent regime.

• OSTI ID: 23050383
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 116; Conference: 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Nuclear Society, San Francisco, CA (United States), 11-15 Jun 2017; Other Information: Country of input: France; 13 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US); ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
COOLANTS
FLUID MECHANICS
FUEL ELEMENT CLUSTERS
FUEL PINS
HEAT TRANSFER
LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION
LASERS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
REFRACTIVE INDEX
REYNOLDS NUMBER
SODIUM
SPACERS
TIME RESOLUTION
VORTICES