Abstract
The fuel rod irradiation device is tested in High Flux Engineering Test Reactor (HFETR). When the reactor is in stable operation, the allowable pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the device ranged from 200 kPa to 300 kPa. In order to ensure the safety of the irradiation test, after investigation and analysis, the labyrinth throttling tooth is selected, and the resistance coefficient of the whole device is adjusted by changing the height and number of tooth. To ensure that the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the irradiation device is within the allowable range of the reactor duct. Based on the method of computational fluid dynamics, the flow resistance characteristics of the fuel irradiation device is studied by numerical simulation, and the reliability of Realizable k-ε model is verified by comparing with the experimental data. On this basis, the flow resistance characteristics of labyrinth throttling tooth with different structures are simulated and analyzed. The results show that reducing the tip clearance is beneficial to reduce the difference of pressure drop change percentage between different tooth. As the number of tooth increases, the ratio of pressure drop between internal teeth to pressure drop of the whole throttle tooth increases. The results can provide a reference for the hydraulic design of the rod fuel irradiation facility.
