Benchmark CFD simulation of flow through a tube bundle with selected turbulence models

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) will increasingly be used as a tool in the design engineering of advanced nuclear systems, such as the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). Codes such as STAR-CD, FLUENT and several others can facilitate evaluation of thermohydraulic performance of various sub-systems and regions of the reactor system. One such CFD application is of flow in the lower-plenum of the VHTR. However, as design certification is called upon by nuclear industry and regulatory authority, any first-of-a-kind application of CFD to plant design needs to undergo a formal validation and verification (V and V) procedure. Benchmarking a CFD code against a generally accepted dataset from an experiment with similar flow phenomena is an important step in V and V. In the present study, we sought to simulate flow over a tube bank (with tubes of one diameter), for which an accepted velocimetric database exists (Simonin and Barcouda). Using both STAR-CD and FLUENT independently, under steady and transient conditions, and with various turbulence models, we investigated the flow over a single and multiple tube bundle. Some initial results from the simulations and analyses thereof will be described. (author)