Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Numerical investigation on the hydraulic loss correlation of ring-type spacer grids

  • Ryu, Kyung Ha (Department of Reliability Assessment, Mechanical System Safety Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials) ;
  • Shin, Yong-Hoon (Versatile Reactor Technology Development Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Cho, Jaehyun (Risk Assessment Research Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Hur, Jungho (School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Lee, Tae Hyun (Department of Reliability Assessment, Mechanical System Safety Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials) ;
  • Park, Jong-Won (Department of Reliability Assessment, Mechanical System Safety Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials) ;
  • Park, Jaeyeong (School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Kang, Bosik (Department of Reliability Assessment, Mechanical System Safety Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials)
  • Received : 2021.05.14
  • Accepted : 2021.09.18
  • Published : 2022.03.25
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Abstract

An accurate prediction of the pressure drop along the flow paths is crucial in the design of advanced passive systems cooled by heavy liquid metal coolants. To date, a generic pressure drop correlation over spacer grids by Rehme has been applied extensively, which was obtained from substantial experimental data with multiple types of components. However, a few experimental studies have reported that the correlation may give large discrepancies. To provide a more reliable correlation for ring-type spacer grids, the current numerical study aims at figuring out the most critical factor among four hypothetical parameters, namely the flow area blockage ratio, number of fuel rods, type of fluid, and thickness of the spacer grid in the flow direction. Through a set of computational fluid dynamics simulations, we observed that the flow area blockage ratio dominantly influences the pressure loss characteristics, and thus its dependence should be more emphasized, whereas the other parameters have little impact. Hence, we suggest a new correlation for the drag coefficient as CB = Cν,m/ε2.7, where Cν,m is formulated by a nonlinear fit of simulation data such that Cν,m = -11.33 ln(0.02 ln(Reb)).

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Mass Production Performance Assessment Program (1415171778), the Materials & Components Technology Development Program (1415171720, 1415171728), the Technology Innovation Program (20011164), and the Energy Technology Development Program (20215810100050) funded by the Korean Government Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

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