• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2303-2308
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• 2007

Experiments were performed to determine the thermal (or turbulent) diffusion coefficient (TDC) and to investigate the critical heat flux (CHF) performance in the 5${\times}$5 rod bundle with 5 unheated rods which are supported by Hybrid Mixing Vane. In this study, HFC-134a fluid was used as working fluid and the fluid temperature were measured in the important subchannels. To determine the TDC value, the measured fluid temperatures were compared with the predicted values obtained from the MATRA code. The best optimized value of ${\beta}$ was found to be 0.02 by considering prediction statistics, i.e., average and standard deviations of the differences between the experimental results and code calculations. Using the best optimized value of ${\beta}$ as 0.02, the MATRA code predicts the test results of the fluid temperature within ${\pm}$1.0 % of error. According to the experimental results on CHF of 5 non-heating guide tubes, the case with non-heating guide tube showed a little good performance in terms of CHF.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.261-271
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• 2002

The fluid-elastic instability analysis of the U-tube bundle inside the steam generator is very important not only for detailed design stage of the SG but also for the change of operating condition of the nuclear powerplant. However the calculation procedure for the fluid-elastic instability was so complicated that the consolidated computer program has not been developed until now. In this study, the numerical calculation procedure and the computer program to obtain the stability ratio were developed. The thermal-hydraulic data in the region of secondary side of steam generator was obtained from executing the ATHOS3 code. The distribution of the fluid density can be calculated by using the void fraction, enthalpy, and operating pressure. The effective mass distribution along the U-tube was required to calculate natural frequency and dynamic mode shape using the ANSYS ver. 5.6 code. Finally, stability ratios for selected tubes of the CE type steam generator were computed. We considered the YGN 3.4 nuclear powerplant as the model plant, and stability ratios were investigated at the flow exit region of the U-tube. From our results, stability ratios at the central and the outside region of the tube bundle are much higher than those of other region.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.528-533
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• 1997

A CANFLEX(CANdu FLEXible fuelling) 43-element bundle has developed for a CANDU-6 reactor as an alternative of 37-element fuel bundle. The design has two diameter elements (11.5 and 13.5㎜) to reduce maximum element power rating and buttons to enhance the critical heat flux(CHF), compared with the standard 37-element bundle. The freon CHF experiments have performed for two series of CANFLEX bundles with and without buttons with a modelling fluid as refrigerant H-l34a and axial uniform heat flux condition. Evaluating the effects of buttons of CANFLEX bundle on CHF and Critical Channel Power(CCP) with the experimental results, it is shown that the buttons enhance CCP as well as CHF. All the CHF's for both the CANFLEX bundles are occurred at the end of fuel channel with the high dryout quality conditions. The CHF enhancement ratio are increased with increase of dryout quality for all flow conditions and also with increase of mass flux only lot high pressure conditions. It indicates that the button is a useful design lot CANDU operating condition because most CHF flow conditions for CANDU fuel bundle are ranged to high dryout quality conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.3625-3634
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• 2021

The crossflow is the key phenomenon in turbulent flow inside rod bundles. In order to establish confidence on application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the crossflow in rod bundles, three Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models i.e. the realizable k-ε model, the k-ω SST model and the Reynolds stress model (RSM), and the Large Eddy simulations (LES) with the Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE) model are validated based on the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) flow measurement experiment in a 5 × 5 rod bundle. In order to investigate effects of periodic boundary condition in the gap, the numerical results obtained with four inner subchannels are compared with that obtained with the whole 5 × 5 rod bundle. The results show that periodic boundaries in the gaps produce strong errors far downstream of the spacer grid, and therefore the full 5 × 5 rod bundle should be simulated. Furthermore, it can be concluded, that the realizable k-ε model can only provide reasonable results very close to the spacer grid, while the other investigated models are in good agreement with the experimental data in the whole downstream flow in the rod bundle. The LES approach shows superiority to the RANS models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4296-4309
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• 2022

Mesh and turbulence model sensitivity analyses have been performed on computational fluid dynamics simulations executed with Hydra and ANSYS Fluent for a single CANadian Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) 37M nuclear fuel bundle placed within a standard pressure tube. The goal of this work was to perform a methodical analysis to objectively determine an appropriate mesh and to gauge the sensitivity of different turbulence models for CANDU subchannel flow under isothermal conditions. The boundary conditions and material properties are representative of normal operating conditions in a high-powered channel of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. Four meshes were generated with ANSYS Workbench Meshing, ranging from 22 to 84 million cells, and analyzed here to determine an appropriate level of mesh resolution and quality. Five turbulence models were compared in the turbulence model sensitivity analysis: standard k - ε, RNG k - ε, realizable k - ε, SST k - ω, and the Reynolds Stress Model. The intent of this work was to gain confidence in mesh generation and turbulence model selection of a single bundle to inform the decision making of subsequent investigations of an entire fuel channel containing a string of twelve bundles.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1367-1372
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• 2008

A plate type supporting structure of a tube bundle in axial flow generates a certain band of a high frequency periodic excitation of a vortex shedding and/or a flow separation due to sharp edge of the plate thickness and a severe pressure drop due to a cross-sectional area of the supports. With a design consideration of the low vibration and a small flow resistance, the analysis method is uniquely confined to an experimental approach because a complex geometry of a cylindrical tube bundle and/or physical phenomena related to the fluid-structure interaction of tube bundle in a flow impede a theoretical or a numerical approach. A 5x5 cylindrical tube bundle with 5 supports which were discretely located along the bundle's axis was tested in the FIVPET hydraulic test loop for a design evaluation and an analysis perspectives. A high frequency flow-induced vibration of the supporting structures of the cylindrical tube bundle was measured at a outer surface of a supporting structure through a transparent flow housing by the laser dopper vibrometer. Pressure drop in-between three measurement distances was measured by the differential pressure transmitter. High frequency vibration and pressure drop fairly depends on the geometric design of supporting structure. So, these two parameters would be used as a qualitative design variables for design evaluation and analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.753-762
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• 2006

In this paper, works related to enhancement of the CHF are reviewed in terms of fundamental mechanisms and practical applications. Studies on CHF enhancement in forced convection are divided into two categories, CHF enhancement of internal flow in tubes and enhancement of CHF in the nuclear fuel bundle. Methods of enhancing the CHF of internal flows in tubes include enhancement of the swirl flow using twisted tapes, a helical coil, and a grooved surface; promotion of flow mixing using a hypervapotron; altering the characteristics of the heated surface using porous coatings and nano-fluids; and changing the surface tension of the fluid using additives such as surfactants. In the fuel bundle, mixing vanes or wire wrapped rods can be employed to enhance the CHF by changing the flow distributions. These methods can be applied to practical heat exchange systems such as nuclear reactors, fossil boilers, fusion reactors, etc.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.241-242
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• 2004

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2016

The CUPID code is a transient, three-dimensional, two-fluid, thermal-hydraulic code designed for a component-scale analysis of nuclear reactor components. The primary objective of this study is to assess the applicability of CUPID to single-phase turbulent flow analyses of $2{\times}2$ rod bundle subchannel. The bulk velocity at the inlet varies from 1.0 m/s up to 2.0 m/s which is equivalent to the fully turbulent flow with the range of Re=12,500 to 25,000. Adiabatic single-phase flow is assumed. The velocity profile at the exit region is quantitatively compared with both experimental measurement and commercial CFD tool. Three different boundary conditions are simulated and quantitatively compared each other. The calculation results of CUPID code shows a good agreement with the experimental data. It is concluded that the CUPID code has capability to reproduce the turbulent flow behavior for the $2{\times}2$ rod bundle geometry.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.538-550
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• 2017

In a PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor), the appropriate heat removal from the surface of fuel rod bundle is important for ensuring thermal margins and safety. Although many CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software have been used to predict complex flows inside fuel assemblies with mixing vanes, there is no domestic regulatory guideline for the comprehensive evaluation of CFD software. Therefore, from the nuclear regulatory perspective, it is necessary to perform the systematic assessment and prepare the domestic regulatory guideline for checking whether valid CFD software is used for nuclear safety problems. In this study, to provide systematic evaluation and guidance on the applicability of CFD software to the domestic nuclear safety area, the results of the sensitivity analysis for the effect of the discretization scheme accuracy for the convection terms and turbulence models, which are main factors that contribute to the uncertainty in the calculation of the nuclear safety problems, on the prediction performance for the turbulent flow distribution inside the fuel assembly with split-type mixing vanes were explained.