AnalysesonfluidflowandheattransferinsideCalandriavesselofCANDU-6usingCFDOriginalResearchArticle

InaCANadaDeuteriumUranium(CANDU)reactor,fuelchannelintegritydependsonthecoolabilityofthemoderatorasanultimateheatsinkundertransientconditionssuchasalossofcoolantaccident(LOCA)withacoincidenceofalossofemergencycorecooling(LOECC),aswellasanormaloperatingcondition.Thisstudypresentstheassessmentsofmoderatorthermal–hydrauliccharacteristicsinthenormaloperatingconditionandonetransientconditionforCANDU-6reactors,usingageneralpurposethree-dimensionalcomputationalfluiddynamicscode.Thisstudyconsistsoftwosteps.First,anoptimizedcalculationschemeisobtainedbymany-sidedcomparisonsofthepredictedresultswiththerelatedexperimentaldata,andbyevaluatingthefluidflowandtemperaturedistributions.Then,inthesecondstep,withtheoptimizedscheme,theanalysesforrealCANDU-6ofnormaloperatingconditionandtransitionconditionhavebeenperformed.Thepresentmodelhassuccessfullypredictedtheexperimentalresultsandalsoreasonablyassessedthethermal–hydrauliccharacteristicsoftherealCANDU-6with380fuelchannels.FlowregimemapwithmajorparametersrepresentingtheflowpatterninsideCalandriavesselhasalsoproposedtobeusedasoperationaland/orregulatoryguidelines.