Scale adaptive turbulence modeling for in-vessel sodium thermal hydraulics
Author(s)
Acton, Michael (Michael John)![Thumbnail](/bitstream/handle/1721.1/107022/971119275-MIT.pdf.jpg?sequence=3&isAllowed=y)
DownloadFull printable version (6.378Mb)
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.
Advisor
Emilio Baglietto.
Terms of use
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Computational fluid dynamics is a powerful tool for the simulation of nuclear reactor coolant flows, such as in sodium fast reactors. In these reactors, the phenomenon of thermal striping -- characterized by oscillatory turbulent mixing of non-isothermal coolant flows -- has the potential to damage the structural integrity of reactor instrumentation and structural materials. At present, large eddy simulation is the only turbulence modeling approach which can sufficiently resolve and predict the mixing behavior of thermal striping, including temperature fluctuation and fluctuation frequencies. The extreme computational cost requirements of large eddy simulation application preclude the use of CFD for large engineering applications. In this work, the performance of the newly developed STRUCT hybrid turbulence model (Lenci, 2016) is evaluated on three representative test cases in comparison to traditional unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and large eddy simulation (LES) models. Results indicate excellent potential for application of the STRUCT approach to sodium thermal striping flows. Best practice guidelines are developed and discussed.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2016. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-76).
Date issued
2016Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and EngineeringPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Nuclear Science and Engineering.