Development of fine-mesh methodologies for coupled calculations in Light Water Reactors
Doktorsavhandling, 2017

This thesis presents fine-mesh multiphysics methodologies and algorithms for numerical predictions of the behavior of Light Water Reactor (LWR) cores. The multiphysics aspects cover the distribution of neutrons, the fluid flow of the coolant and the conjugate heat transfer between the solid fuel pins and the fluid coolant. The proposed schemes are aimed at fine-mesh coupled effects, directly resolving the interdependencies of the different fields on the finest scales of the computations. The solver is developed for both steady-state and transient LWR scenarios. For the steady-state simulations, the neutronics is solved both by the lower order, diffusion equation and the higher order, discrete ordinate transport method, and for transient cases by the former. The thermal-hydraulic solver is based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The implementation utilizes a finite volume method (FVM) computational framework, and to achieve feasible computational times, high performance computing (HPC) aspects such as parallelization by domain decomposition are considered. The implemented tool is applied to cases of parts of a fuel assembly, analyzing systems of up to 15x15 fuel pins and succesfully resolving sub-pin resolution of all fields. Furthermore, the transient fine-mesh neutronic solver is verified based on a novel scheme utilizing the system response to a local perturbation. In addition, the multiphase flow problem encountered in Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) is studied. First, the transport of bubbles under subcooled boiling conditions is simulated based on a population balance approach. The novel formulation is shown to increase the computational efficiency and to capture a large range of bubbles sizes with few degrees of freedom. Second, the typical Eulerian-Eulerian approach for two-phase flow is studied from a stability and dynamics perspective. The latter investigations highlight the complexity of the two-fluid formulation and indicate the spontaneous emergence of meso-scale void structures under adiabatic conditions.

CFD

Coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics

nuclear reactor multiphysics

multiphase flow

PJ-salen, Fysik
Opponent: Dr Bojan Niceno, Paul Scherrer Institute, Schweiz

Författare

Klas Jareteg

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär fysik och plasmafysik

A numerical framework for bubble transport in a subcooled fluid flow

Journal of Computational Physics,; Vol. 345(2017)p. 373-403

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Development and test of a new verification scheme for transient core simulators

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Development of a point-kinetic verification scheme for nuclear reactor applications

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On the dynamics of instabilities in two-fluid models for bubbly flows

Chemical Engineering Science,; Vol. 170(2017)p. 184-194

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Fine-mesh deterministic modeling of PWR fuel assemblies: Proof-of-principle of coupled neutronic/thermal–hydraulic calculations

Annals of Nuclear Energy,; Vol. 68(2014)p. 247-256

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Coupled fine-mesh neutronics and thermal-hydraulics - modeling and implementation for PWR fuel assemblies

Annals of Nuclear Energy,; Vol. 84(2015)p. 244-257

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Behaviour and stability of the two-fluid model for fine-scale simulations of bubbly flow in nuclear reactors

International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering,; Vol. 13(2015)p. 449-459

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift

Drivkrafter

Hållbar utveckling

Styrkeområden

Energi

Infrastruktur

C3SE (Chalmers Centre for Computational Science and Engineering)

Ämneskategorier

Annan fysik

Strömningsmekanik och akustik

ISBN

978-91-7597-626-6

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 4307

Utgivare

Chalmers

PJ-salen, Fysik

Opponent: Dr Bojan Niceno, Paul Scherrer Institute, Schweiz

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2018-10-19