• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06e
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• pp.482-487
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• 2001

A CFD study was conducted to evaluate the nuclear fuel assembly coolant mixing that is promoted by the flow-mixing vanes on the grid spacer. Four mixing vanes (split vane, swirl vane, twisted vane, hybrid vane) were chosen in this study. A single subchannel of one grid span is modeled using the flow symmetry. The three mixing vanes other than swirl vane generate a large crossflow between the subchannels and a skewed elliptic swirling flow in the subchannel near the grid spacer. The swirl vane induces a circular swirling flow in the subchannel and a negligible crossflow. The split vane and the twisted vane were predicted to result in relatively larger pressure drop across the grid spacer. Since the average turbulent kinetic energy in the subchannel rapidly decreases to a fully developed level downstream of the spacer, turbulent mixing caused by the mixing vanes appears to be not as effective as swirling flow mixing in the subchannel. In summary, the CFD analysis represented the overall characteristics of coolant mixing well in a nuclear fuel assembly with the flow mixing vanes on the grid spacer. The CFD study is therefore quite useful for the development of an advanced flow-mixing vane.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.1 s.244
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• pp.24-31
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• 2006

Mixing vanes have been installed in the space grid of nuclear fuel rod bundle to improve turbulent heat transfer. Split mixing vanes induce the vortex flow in the cooling water to swirl in sub-channel of fuel assembly. But, The swirling flow decays rapidly so that the heat transfer enhancing effect limited to short length after the mixing vane. In thi present study, the large scale vortex flow(LSVF) is generated by rearranging the mixing vanes to the coordinated directions. This LSVF mixing vanes generate the most strong secondary flow vortices which maintain about 35 $D_H$ after the spacer grid. The streamwise vorticity generated by LSVF sustain two times more than that split mixing vane. Heat transfer in the rod bundle occurs greatly at the same direction to cross flow, and maximum temperature at the surface of bundle drops about 1.5K

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.811-818
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• 2006

Mixing vanes have been installed in the space grid of nuclear fuel rod bundle to improve turbulent heat transfer. Split mixing vanes induce the vortex flow in the cooling water to swirl in sub-channel of fuel assembly. But, The swirling flow decays rapidly so that the heat transfer enhancing effect limited to short length after the mixing vane. In the present study, the large scale vortex flow (LSVF) is generated by rearranging the mixing vanes to the coordinated directions. This LSVF mixing vanes generate the most strong secondary flow vortices which maintain about $35D_h$ after the spacer grid. The streamwise vorticity generated by LSVF sustain two times more than that split mixing vane.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.1819-1824
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• 2004

The common method to improve heat transfer in Nuclear fuel rod bundle is install a mixing vane in space grid. The previous split mixing vane is guides cooling water to swirl flow in sub-channel of fuel assembly. But, this swirl flow decade rapidly after mixing vane and the effect of enhancing the heat transfer vanish behind this short region. The large scale secondary vortex flow was generated by rearranging the inclined angle direction of mixing vanes to the coordinated directions. This LSVF mixing vanes generate the most strong secondary flow vortices which maintain about 35 $D_H$ after the spacer grid and the streamwise vorticity in subchannel with LSVF mixing vane sustain two times more than that in subchannel with split mixing vane. The turbulent kinetic energy and the Reynolds stresses generated by the mixing vanes have nearly same scales but maintain twice more than previous type.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.186-194
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• 2016

As a turbulence-enhancing device, a mixing vane installed at a spacer grid of the fuel assembly plays a role in improving the convective heat transfer by generating either swirl flow in the subchannels or cross flow between fuel rod gaps. Therefore, both configuration and arrangement pattern of a mixing vane are important factors that determine the performance of a mixing vane. In this study, in order to examine the flow distribution features inside $5{\times}5$ fuel assembly with swirl-type mixing vanes used in benchmark calculation of OECD/NEA, simulations were conducted with commercial CFD software ANSYS CFX R.14. Predicted results were compared to data measured from MATiS-H (Measurement and Analysis of Turbulent Mixing in Subchannels-Horizontal) test facility. In addition, the effect of swirl-type mixing vanes on flow pattern inside the fuel assembly was described.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.300-305
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• 2005

The present experimental study investigates single-phase heat transfer coefficients downstream of support grid in $6{\times}6$ rod bundles. Support grid with split mixing vanes enhance heat transfer in rod bundles by generating it make turbulence. But this turbulence is confined to short distance. Support grid with LSVF mixing vanes enhanced heat transfer to longer distance. The corresponding Reynolds number investigated in the present study is Re=30,000. The heat transfer coefficients are measured using heated and unheated copper sensor.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.188-193
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• 2006

In present study, the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the subchannels are investigated as measuring single-phase heat transfer coefficients and the cross sectional velocity field using LDV in the downstream of support grid in $6{\times}6$ rod bundles. Support grid with mixing vanes make enhancing heat transfer in rod bundles by generating turbulent flow. But this turbulent flow only is reserved in a short distance. Support grid with LSVF mixing vanes keep the turbulent flow a long distance. The experiments are performed at the nominal Reynolds number 30,000 and 50,000. The heat transfer coefficients are measured using heated and unheated copper sensor. In this study, the comparison of local heat transfer coefficients for LSVF mixing vane and split mixing vane is represented.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.538-550
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• 2017

In a PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor), the appropriate heat removal from the surface of fuel rod bundle is important for ensuring thermal margins and safety. Although many CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software have been used to predict complex flows inside fuel assemblies with mixing vanes, there is no domestic regulatory guideline for the comprehensive evaluation of CFD software. Therefore, from the nuclear regulatory perspective, it is necessary to perform the systematic assessment and prepare the domestic regulatory guideline for checking whether valid CFD software is used for nuclear safety problems. In this study, to provide systematic evaluation and guidance on the applicability of CFD software to the domestic nuclear safety area, the results of the sensitivity analysis for the effect of the discretization scheme accuracy for the convection terms and turbulence models, which are main factors that contribute to the uncertainty in the calculation of the nuclear safety problems, on the prediction performance for the turbulent flow distribution inside the fuel assembly with split-type mixing vanes were explained.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1592-1597
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• 2004

Experimental studies were carried out to confirm the turbulent enhancement of the cooling system of nuclear reactor by large scale vortex generation in nuclear fuel rod bundle. The large scale vortex motions were generated by rearranging the inclination angles of mixing vanes to the coordinate directions. Experimental studies were carried out at Reynolds Number 60,000 with hydraulic condition. Normal variations of mean velocity and turbulent intensity in the rod bundle subchannel were measured by the 2-color LDV measurement system. The turbulence generated by split mixing vanes has small length scales so that they maintain only about 10DH after the spacer grid. On the other hand, the turbulences generated by the large scale vortex continue more and remain up $25D_{H}$ after the spacer grid.