• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 2016

The performance of convective heat transfer in rod bundle flow was experimentally evaluated using a twist-vane spacer grid. A $4{\times}4$ square-arrayed rod bundle was prepared as the test section, with a pitch-to-diameter ratio(P/D) of ~1.35. To check the convective heat transfer performance, the circumferential and longitudinal variations in rod-wall temperatures were measured downstream of the twist-vane spacer grid. In the circumferential measurements, the rod-wall temperature toward the twist-vane tip showed the lowest value, which might be due to the deflected water flow caused by the twist-vane. On the other hand, the wall temperature of the longitudinal measurements near the twist-vane spacer grid decreased dramatically, which implies that the convective heat transfer performance was enhanced. A heat transfer enhancement of ~35 % was achieved near downstream of the twist-vane spacer grid, as compared with the upstream value. Based on the present experimental data, a correlation for predicting the heat transfer performance of a twist-vane spacer grid was proposed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2017

The forced convection heat transfer performance of a twist-vane spacer grid for a dual-cooled annular fuel assembly was examined experimentally. The twist-vane spacer grid was uniquely designed to enhance mixing inside subchannels and mixing between adjacent subchannels. For testing, a $4{\times}4$ square-arrayed rod bundle with narrow gaps between rods was prepared as the dual-cooled annular fuel assembly to be simulated. The pitch-to-rod diameter ratio of simulated dual-cooled annular fuel assembly was 1.08. The experiments were performed under the following conditions: axial bulk velocity, 1.5 m/s and heat flux, $26kW/m^2$. With regard to the circumferential temperature distribution, the lowest rod-wall temperatures upstream and downstream were measured at the subchannel center and the position toward the tip of twist-vane, respectively. With regard to the axial temperature distribution, behind the twist-vane spacer grid, the rod-wall temperature decreased drastically, and the Nusselt number was enhanced by up to 56 %. The present measured data indicate that the twist-vane spacer grid can effectively improve the forced convection heat transfer in the dual-cooled annular fuel assembly with narrow gaps.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.2986-2998
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• 1994

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.123.2-123
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• 2002

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2873-2878
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• 2007

The mixing vanes attached to the spacer grid of rod bundles are used to improve the heat transfer in heat exchanger devices by controlling the characteristics of the flow structures and turbulence. In this study, velocity patterns induced by two types of mixing vane(split and swirl vane) are measured by the PIV technique to better understand how to effect on the cross and secondary vortex flow patterns in $5{\times}$ rod bundle simulating the fuel assembly of the nuclear reactor. A successful measurement of the lateral velocity patterns was conducted using a specially designed beam sheet generator and experimental loop at KAERI. As the result, we found that for the cross flow between subchannels, the split vane is more effective than the swirl vane, while for the secondary vortex flow in each subchannel, the swirl vane's one is larger and longer than split vane's one.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2396-2401
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• 2007

Freon CHF experiments are carried out to investigate the CHF enhancements by mixing vane shapes of spacer grids in nuclear fuel assembly. The experiments were performed for a wide range mass flux, 50$\sim}$3000 kg/$m^2s$. Three kinds of spacer grids in 5${\times}$5 rod bundles are tested: no mixing vane grids, hybrid mixing vane grids, and split mixing vane grids. The CHF performances are compared along with the data belong to the PWR operating conditions based on a water equivalence through a fluid-to-fluid modeling method. The average of the data in this range is 16.4% for 37 data of hybrid vane grid and 12.5% for 24 data of split vane. In the lower mass flux, however, the split vane grid shows slightly higher performance than the hybrid vane grid.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.329-337
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• 2016

As a turbulence-enhancing device, a mixing vane, which is installed at a spacer grid of the fuel assembly, plays an important role in improving convective heat transfer by generating either swirl flow in the subchannels or cross flow between the fuel rod gaps. Therefore, both the geometric configuration and the arrangement pattern of a mixing vane are important factors in determining the performance of a mixing vane. In this study, in order to examine the flow-distribution features inside a $5{\times}5$ fuel assembly with split-type mixing vanes, which was used in the benchmark calculation of the OECD/NEA, we conduct simulations using the commercial computational fluid dynamics software, ANSYS CFX R.14. We compare the predicted results with measured data obtained from the MATiS-H (Measurement and Analysis of Turbulent Mixing in Subchannels-Horizontal) test facility. In addition, we discuss the effect of the split-type mixing vanes on the flow pattern inside the fuel assembly.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.311-318
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• 2003

The present work evaluates the effects of mixing vane shape on the flow structure and heat transfer downstream of mixing vane in a subchannel of fuel assembly. by obtaining velocity and pressure fields. turbulent intensity. flow-mixing factors. heat transfer coefficient and friction factor using three-dimensional RANS analysis. Four different shapes of mixing vane. which were designed by the authors were tested to evaluate the performances in enhancing the heat transfer. Standard k-$\varepsilon$ model is used as a turbulence closure model. and. periodic and symmetry conditions are set as boundary conditions. The flow blockage ratio is kept constant. but the twist angle of mixing vane is changed. The results with three turbulence models were compared with experimental data.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.7-13
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• 2009

The purposes of present work are to analyze the convective heat transfer with three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analysis, and to optimize shape of the mixing vane using the analysis results. Response surface method is employed as an optimization technique. The objective function is defined as a combination of inverse of heat transfer rate and friction loss. Two bend angles of mixing vane are selected as design variables. Thermal-hydraulic performances have been discussed and optimum shape has been obtained as a function of weighting factor in the objective function. The results show that the optimized geometry improves the heat transfer performance far downstream of the mixing vane.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

The purposes of present work are to analyze the convective heat transfer with three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analysis, and to optimize shape of the mixing vane taken tolerance into consideration by using the analysis results. Response surface method is employed as an optimization technique. The objective function is defined as a combination of heat transfer rate and inverse of pressure drop. Two bend angles of mixing vane are selected as design variables. Thermal-hydraulic performances have been discussed and optimum shape has been obtained as a function of weighting factor in the objective function. The results show that the optimized geometry improves the heat transfer performance far downstream of the mixing vane.