Development of computational technology on heat transfer and fluid flow in a nuclear fuel bundle of advanced reactor

The assessment of the RANS(Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) based turbulence model was conducted to establish the optimal CFD system for turbulent flow and heat transfer in reactor during the first year of the project. The RANS models used in this project are the two-equation models based on the eddy viscosity assumption and the Second-Moment Closure(SMC) models. Since the nuclear fuel assembly loaded in the nuclear reactor is a rod bundle which is square or triangular array, the predictions using the various turbulence models were compared for turbulent flow in bare square and/or triangular rod bundle and the rod bundle with the flow mixing vane. The study for the second year of the project examined the CFD model and the applicability of the CFD code for the turbulent two-phase flow. The numerical predictions of lateral distributions of void fraction, phasic velocities and turbulent kinetic energy were compared against the experimental results for upward and downward bubbly flow in a vertical tube. The boiling flows in vertical tube and rod bundle were also simulated to verify the CFD results