Large Eddy Simulation of Convective Heat Transfer in a Random Pebble Bed Using the Spectral Element Method

Nguyen, Tri; Reger, David; Dai, Dezhi; Merzari, Elia; Yuan, Haomin; Jackson, Brian; Busco, Giacomo

doi:10.1115/1.4062940

Large Eddy Simulation of Convective Heat Transfer in a Random Pebble Bed Using the Spectral Element Method

Journal Article · Fri Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · ASME Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4062940· OSTI ID:2447447

Nguyen, Tri ^[1]; Reger, David ^[1]; Dai, Dezhi ^[2]; Merzari, Elia ^[1]; Yuan, Haomin ^[2]; Jackson, Brian ^[3]; Busco, Giacomo ^[3]

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Kairos Power, Alameda, CA (United States)

The development of fluoride-cooled high-temperature reactors has drastically increased the demand for an in-depth understanding of the heat transfer (HT) in packed beds cooled by liquid salts. The complex flow fields and space-dependent porosity found in a pebble bed require a detailed understanding to ensure the proper cooling of the reactor core during normal and accident conditions. As detailed experimental data are complicated to obtain for these configurations, high-fidelity simulation such as large eddy simulation and direct numerical simulation (DNS) can be employed to create a high-resolution heat transfer numerical database that can assist in addressing industrial-driven issues associated with the heat transfer behavior of fluoride-cooled high-temperature reactors. In this paper, we performed a series of large eddy simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code NekRS to investigate the heat transfer for a bed of 1741 pebbles. Further, the characteristics of the flow, such as average, rms, and time series of velocity and temperature, have been analyzed. Porous media averages have also been performed. The simulation results show a good agreement between non-conjugate heat transfer and conjugate heat transfer. The generated data will be used to benchmark heat transfer modeling methods and local maxima/minima of heat transfer parameters. It will also be used for supporting convective heat transfer quantification for Kairos Power and benchmarking lower fidelity models.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 2447447

Journal Information:: ASME Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Journal Name: ASME Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 145; ISSN 2832-8450

Publisher:: ASMECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Large Eddy Simulation of Convective Heat Transfer in a Random Pebble Bed Using the Spectral Element Method

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