A CFD M&S PROCESS FOR FAST REACTOR FUEL ASSEMBLIES
A CFD modeling and simulation process for large-scale problems using an arbitrary fast reactor fuel assembly design was evaluated. Three dimensional flow distributions of sodium for several fast reactor fuel assembly pin spacing configurations were simulated on high performance computers using commercial CFD software. This research focused on 19-pin fuel assembly “benchmark” geometry, similar in design to the Advanced Burner Test Reactor, where each pin is separated by helical wire-wrap spacers. Several two-equation turbulence models including the k-e and SST (Menter) k-? were evaluated. Considerable effort was taken to resolve the momentum boundary layer, so as to eliminate the need for wall functions and reduce computational uncertainty. High performance computers were required to generate the hybrid meshes needed to predict secondary flows created by the wire-wrap spacers; computational meshes ranging from 65 to 85 million elements were common. A general validation methodology was followed, including mesh refinement and comparison of numerical results with empirical correlations. Predictions for velocity, temperature, and pressure distribution are shown. The uncertainty of numerical models, importance of high fidelity experimental data, and the challenges associated with simulating and validating large production-type problems are presented.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 941746
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-08-14131; TRN: US0807497
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: XCFD4NRS (Experiments and CFD Code Applications to Nuclear Reactor Safety - OECD/NEA Workshop),Grenoble, France,09/10/2008,09/12/2008
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BOUNDARY LAYERS
BURNERS
COMPUTERS
FAST REACTORS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
GEOMETRY
REACTORS
SAFETY
SIMULATION
SODIUM
SPACERS
TEST REACTORS
TURBULENCE
VALIDATION
VELOCITY
Advanced Burner Test Reactor
CFD
Empirical Correlation
helical wire-wrap spacers
High Performance Computing
Large Scale Simulation
Production Code
Sensitivity Analysis
Sodium Cooled
three dimensional
turbulence models
Verification and Validation