• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.2276-2296
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• 2022

This study validates the applicability of the CUPID code for simulating subcooled wall boiling under high-pressure conditions against number of DEBORA tests. In addition, a new numerical technique in which the interfacial momentum non-drag forces are calculated at the cell faces rather than the center is presented. This method reduced the numerical instability often triggered by calculating these terms at the cell center. Simulation results showed good agreement against the experimental data except for the bubble sizes in the bulk. Thus, a new model to calculate the Sauter mean diameter is proposed. Next, the effect of the relationship between the bubble departure diameter (D_dep) and the nucleation site density (N) on the performance of the Wall Heat Flux Partitioning (WHFP) model is investigated. Three correlations for D_dep and two for N are grouped into six combinations. Results by the different combinations show that despite the significant difference in the calculated D_dep, most combinations reasonably predict vapor distribution and liquid temperature. Analysis of the axial propagations of wall boiling parameters shows that the N term stabilizes the inconsistences in D_dep values by following a behavior reflective of D_dep to keep the total energy balance. Moreover, ratio of the heat flux components vary widely along the flow depending on the combinations. These results suggest that separate validation of D_dep correlations may be insufficient since its performance relies on the accompanying N correlations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권10호
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• pp.1347-1360
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• 2009

A multi-dimensional component for the thermal-hydraulic system analysis code, MARS, was developed for a more realistic three-dimensional analysis of nuclear systems. A three-dimensional and two-fluid model for a two-phase flow in Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates was employed. The governing equations and physical constitutive relationships were extended from those of a one-dimensional version. The numerical solution method adopted a semi-implicit and finite-difference method based on a staggered-grid mesh and a donor-cell scheme. The relevant length scale was very coarse compared to commercial computational fluid dynamics tools. Thus a simple Prandtl's mixing length turbulence model was applied to interpret the turbulent induced momentum and energy diffusivity. Non drag interfacial forces were not considered as in the general nuclear system codes. Several conceptual cases with analytic solutions were chosen and analyzed to assess the fundamental terms. RPI air-water and UPTF 7 tests were simulated and compared to the experimental data. The simulation results for the RPI air-water two-phase flow experiment showed good agreement with the measured void fraction. The simulation results for the UPTF downcomer test 7 were compared to the experiment data and the results from other multi-dimensional system codes for the ECC delivery flow.