《1-CFD methodology and validation for single-phase flow in PWR fuel assemblies》.pdf

Nuclear Engineering and Design 240 (2010) 2088–2095 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nuclear Engineering and Design j o u rn al h omepage: w w w. elsev /locate/nucengdes CFD methodology and validation for single-phase flow in PWR fuel assemblies Michael E. Conner a,∗ , Emilio Baglietto b , Abdelaziz M. Elmahdi a a Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel, 5801 Bluff Road, Columbia, SC 29250, USA b CD-adapco, New York Office, 60 Broadhollow Road, Melville, NY 11747, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: This paper presents the CFD modeling methodology and validation for steady-state, normal operation in Received 23 March 2009 a PWR fuel assembly. This work is part of a program that is developing a CFD methodology for modeling Received in revised form 28 August 2009 and predicting single-phase and two-phase flow conditions downstream of structural grids that have Accepted 2 September 2009 mixing devices. The purpose of the mixing devices (mixing vanes in this case) is to increase turbulence and improve heat transfer characteristics of the fuel assembly. The detailed CFD modeling methodology for single-phase flow conditions in PWR fuel assemblies was developed using the STAR-CD CFD code. This methodology includes the details of the computational mesh, the turbulence model used, and the boundary conditions applied to the model. The methodology was