Numerical simulations for steam–water CCFL tests using the 1/3 scale rectangular channel simulating a PWR hot leg

In reflux condensation, steam generated in the reactor core and water condensed in a steam generator (SG) form countercurrent flow in a hot leg, which consists of a horizontal pipe, an elbow and an inclined pipe. Both countercurrent air–water and steam–water tests were previously carried out at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) using the 1/3 scale rectangular channel simulating a PWR hot leg installed in the pressure chamber of the TOPFLOW facility. In this paper, in order to evaluate the effects of fluid properties, the steam–water CCFL (countercurrent flow limitation) tests at HZDR were simulated using the CFD software, FLUENT 6.3.26. The computational domain included the reactor vessel simulator, hot leg and SG inlet chamber in order to avoid uncertainties of boundary conditions at both ends of the hot leg. The VOF (volume of fluid) method and two-fluid (2F) model were used. In the 2F model, the combination of three correlations on the interfacial friction coefficients, which had been validated for the 1/15 and 1/5 scale tests at Kobe University, was used as a function of local void fractions. The CCFL characteristics predicted by the 2F and VOF agreed relatively well with the steam–water CCFL data at HZDR but overestimated the effects of fluid properties on CCFL. The VOF simulations were better able to reproduce the fluid properties than the 2F simulations.