The blanket assemblies of China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) were specially designed for the purpose of fuel breeding. There are two parts of the blanket assembly that have significant influence on its thermal-hydraulic feature: the labyrinth throttle set and the wire-wrapped fuel bundle. In this paper, the flow and temperature distribution of sodium coolant in fuel bundle, as well as the pressure drop in the labyrinth throttle set were investigated by solving the three-dimensional conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, for a wide range of Reynolds number. Different turbulent models: k-ε, SST and Reynolds stress model (RSM) were used and compared with experimental correlations in the study of fuel bundle. The cross flow strength in three typical sub-channels and the influence of steer rods were also investigated. It has been found that the SST model fits best with the experimental correlation and although dampened the cross flow in edge channel, the steel rods installed in the hexagonal duct could enhance the heat transfer by “pushing” the sodium coolant to inner channel of the fuel bundle. Moreover, the relationship between the slot width of the labyrinth throttle set and the pressure drop under different coolant mass flow rate was analyzed, and found out the slot width that satisfied the design requirement of the blanket assembly.

This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.