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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Vojtěch Caha
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 10 | October 2022 | Pages 1591-1604
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2053807
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper is aimed at the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations for lateral flow modeling in rod bundles of Russian-type pressurized water reactors with hexagonal fuel rod lattice by subchannel analysis under a constant temperature. The subchannel code SUBCAL and CFD code ANSYS Fluent with the Reynolds stress turbulence model, which is capable of solving the anisotropic flow present in rod bundles, are used. Both methods are compared in terms of calculations in rod bundles. The literature review of available experiments of rod bundles suitable for CFD calculation validation follows. This paper describes the created CFD models on a triangular lattice, which are subsequently validated on selected experimental data in a wide range of Reynolds numbers and geometry (pitch-to–rod diameter ratio) together with mesh sensitivity analysis. The main part of this work is to develop a new equation for the lateral flow resistance coefficient for the subchannel code based on CFD calculations. Within these calculations, the turbulent mixing coefficient β for hydraulically smooth rod bundles, which is related to the geometry, and the momentum-energy transfer analogy correction factor ε are also evaluated and for which the equation is subsequently proposed.