Prediction of the turbulent mixing in bare rod bundles

The turbulent mixing rate is very important variable in the thermal-hydraulic design of nuclear reactors. In this study, the turbulent mixing rate the fluid flows through rod bundles is estimated with the scale analysis on the flow pulsation phenomenon. Based upon the assumption that the turbulent mixing is composed of molecular motion, isotropic turbulent motion (turbulent motion without the flow pulsation), and flow pulsation, the scale relation for the mixing is derived as a function of P/D, Re, and Pr. The derived scale relation is compared with published experimental results and shows good agreements. Since the scale relation is applicable to various Prandtl number fluid flows, It is expected to be useful for the thermal-hydraulic analysis of liquid metal coolant reactors as well as of moderate Prandtl number coolant reactors. (author). 15 refs. 5 figs