3D numerical study of the external flow effect on the heat transfer in a radiometric calorimeter dedicated to nuclear heating measurements

Improvement of measurements in reactor is still a challenge. Thus, this work focuses on numerical studies of one sensor dedicated to nuclear heating measurements: a radiometric complex calorimeter. More precisely, using a simplified conduction heat model, this work presents the first full 3D simulations of a simplified calorimeter reduced to the complex calorimeter head showing that the key parameter for the sensitivity control is the convective heat transfers between the calorimeter and its external surrounding. The effect of external flow velocity on the calorimeter head response is determined for different flow regimes (natural convection, forced convection) and numerical results are found to be in agreement with experimental results under non-irradiated conditions obtained for the complex calorimeter. Moreover, in order to understand and describe fully the mechanisms leading at the different calorimeter heat transfer, the flow velocity dynamics should be added in the model. In a first approach, due to low influence of the flow velocity for tested power range, a static cooling fluid around the calorimeter head is added in the model. Then, in order to get the full flow dynamics, using Boussinesq approximation, a new 2D fluid model, including both temperature field and flow velocity dynamics, is derived taking into account the nuclear heating effect on the flow.