The effects of artificial roughness for the purpose of thermal performance improvement in pressurized water nuclear reactors are investigated. The artificial roughness consists of two-dimensional ribs parallel to the turbulent flow. The fuel rod bundle subchannel is preliminarily modeled as an annulus using the finite element method in ANSYS/FLOTRAN. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved from the SST (Shear Stress Transport) turbulence model for the simulated annulus thermal-flow. The analyses are performed for ribs dimensions and pitch provided by published previous work. It is found that, heat transfer and differential pressure have similar behavior with highest heat transfer occurring at the reattachment point. The finite element model describes well the characteristics of turbulent flow in smooth and rough rod when compared to previous semi-empirical models. Next paper extends the analysis by comparing numerical results with experimental test data and sensitivity analyses for different roughness configurations.

Volume Subject Area:
Heat Transfer in Energy Systems
Topics:
Engineering simulation, Fuel rods, Heat transfer, Simulation, Surface roughness, Turbulence, Annulus, Dimensions, Finite element methods, Finite element model, Flow (Dynamics), Navier-Stokes equations, Nuclear reactors, Pressure, Sensitivity analysis, Shear stress, Water
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Copyright © 2009
 by ASME
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