CFD Analysis of the VHTR Prismatic Core with Variation of Geometry Parameters

Autores/as

  • Carlos Alberto Brayner Oliveira Lira UFPE Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
  • Pedro Paulo Dantas Souza Paiva Universidade Federal de Pernambuco image/svg+xml

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v8i3B.685

Palabras clave:

CFD, VHTR, parametric analysis

Resumen

The Very High Temperature Reactor is a thermal, graphite moderated and helium cooled nuclear reactor. The purpose of this work is to study the behavior of the VHTR by means of parametric analysis, altering the energy generation profile in the fuel blocks and the influence of modifications in the geometry itself. The coolant flow through the coolant channels and by-pass channels were analyzed in a 1/12th section of a fuel block column. Geometry was used with by-pass channels of different dimensions, besides one that had only the cooling channels, without by-pass channel. It has been found that the existence of a by-pass flow induces an increase in the temperature gradient in the fuel block. Comparative studies were performed between the results obtained in simulations carried out with different profiles of thermal energy generation (uniform and sinusoidal) in the fuel channels. It was verified that when there is the same total thermal energy generation in the fuel block, the maximum temperature observed in each of the materials is smaller for the generation with sinusoidal profile. Computer simulations were performed using a geometry with a central channel with the same diameter as the others to verify the hypothesis that the existence of a temperature gradient in the fuel block, with the highest temperature at the center and the lowest temperature being at the periphery of this block, is due to the smaller dimension of the coolant channel located in the center of this block. The results obtained confirm the hypothesis

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Biografía del autor/a

  • Carlos Alberto Brayner Oliveira Lira, UFPE Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

    Depto de Energia Nuclear

    Professor and Researcher

  • Pedro Paulo Dantas Souza Paiva, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

    Departamento de Energia Nuclear

    Post graduate student

Referencias

ANSYS INCORPORATED. CFX Tutorials, 2013.

CLIFFORD, I. D. A hybrid coarse and fine mesh solution method for prismatic high tempera-ture gas-cooled reactor thermal-fluid analysis, Ph.D. dissertation, College of Engineering, Penn-sylvania State University, 2013.

JOHNSON, R. W.; SATO, H.; SCHULTZ, R. R. CFD Analysis of Core Bypass Phenomena. Tech-nical Report: INL/EXT-09-16882, Idaho National Laboratory, 2009.

MACDONALD, P. E.; STERBENTZ, J. W.; SANT, R. L.; BAYLESS, P. D.; SCHULTZ, R. R.; GOUGAR, H. D.; MOORE, R. L.; OUGOUAG, A. M.; TERRY, W. K. NGNP Point Design—Results of Initial Neutronics and Thermal-Hydraulic Assessments During FY-03. Technical Re-port: INEEL/EXT-03-00870 Rev. 1, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, 2003.

SATO, H.; JOHNSON, R.; SCHULTZ, R. Computational fluid dynamic analysis of core bypass flow phenomena in a prismatic VHTR. Annals of Nuclear Energy, v. 37, p. 1172–1185, 2010.

TAK, N. I.; KIM, M. H.; LIM, H. S. Numerical investigation of a heat transfer within the prismatic fuel assembly of a very high temperature reactor. Annals of Nuclear Energy, v. 35, p. 1892–1899, 2008.

TRAVIS, B. W.; EL-GENK, M. S. Thermal-hydraulics analyses for 1/6 prismatic VHTR core and fuel element with and without bypass flow. Energy Conversion and Management, v. 67, p. 325–341, 2013b.

WANG, L.; LIU, Q.; KATSUYA, F. Numerical solution of heat transfer process in a prismatic VHTR core accompanying bypass and cross flows. Nuclear Engineering and Design, v. 307, p. 275–283, 2016.

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Publicado

2021-02-13

Número

Vol. 8 Núm. 3B (Suppl.) (2020)

Sección

XX Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Physics and Thermal Hydraulics (XX ENFIR)

Licencia

Derechos de autor 2021 Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences (BJRS)

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución 4.0.

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Cómo citar

CFD Analysis of the VHTR Prismatic Core with Variation of Geometry Parameters. Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences (BJRS), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, v. 8, n. 3B (Suppl.), 2021. DOI: 10.15392/bjrs.v8i3B.685. Disponível em: https://bjrs.org.br/revista/index.php/REVISTA/article/view/685. Acesso em: 17 jul. 2025.