Computational Fluid Dynamics Prediction of Heat Transfer in Rod Bundles With Water at Supercritical Pressure

Author(s):  
Andrea Pucciarelli ◽  
Walter Ambrosini

The paper further explores the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for the study of the heat-transfer phenomena involved when working with fluids at supercritical pressure; bundle analysis is considered here in particular. As for previous simulations performed by the authors considering heat-transfer deterioration inside heated tubes, this application points out the limited capabilities of the most commonly used Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes models when approaching the heat-transfer deterioration phenomenon. It must be noted that some of the considered experimental conditions, which are very close to the pseudocritical temperature, represent at the same time one of the most challenging situations for the CFD codes and a very common situation if supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) will be developed. Improvements of the currently available turbulence models are then needed. The paper analyzes the most likely causes of the observed insufficient quality of the obtained predictions. In addition to comparing the measured and calculated wall temperature trends, the effect of the presence of the spacer grids on the turbulent flow is considered. Spacers are in fact very important to assure the structural stability of fuel, though they also affect the flow, generally improving the turbulence conditions in their neighborhood and slightly impairing it in the downstream region. A comparison between predictions performed including or not including the spacers is also performed.

Author(s):  
Alexander Kayne ◽  
Ramesh Agarwal

In recent years Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are increasingly used to model the air circulation and temperature environment inside the rooms of residential and office buildings to gain insight into the relative energy consumptions of various HVAC systems for cooling/heating for climate control and thermal comfort. This requires accurate simulation of turbulent flow and heat transfer for various types of ventilation systems using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations of fluid dynamics. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) or Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of Navier-Stokes equations is computationally intensive and expensive for simulations of this kind. As a result, vast majority of CFD simulations employ RANS equations in conjunction with a turbulence model. In order to assess the modeling requirements (mesh, numerical algorithm, turbulence model etc.) for accurate simulations, it is critical to validate the calculations against the experimental data. For this purpose, we use three well known benchmark validation cases, one for natural convection in 2D closed vertical cavity, second for forced convection in a 2D rectangular cavity and the third for mixed convection in a 2D square cavity. The simulations are performed on a number of meshes of different density using a number of turbulence models. It is found that k-epsilon two-equation turbulence model with a second-order algorithm on a reasonable mesh gives the best results. This information is then used to determine the modeling requirements (mesh, numerical algorithm, turbulence model etc.) for flows in 3D enclosures with different ventilation systems. In particular two cases are considered for which the experimental data is available. These cases are (1) air flow and heat transfer in a naturally ventilated room and (2) airflow and temperature distribution in an atrium. Good agreement with the experimental data and computations of other investigators is obtained.


Author(s):  
Chen Fu ◽  
C Patrick Bounds ◽  
Christian Selent ◽  
Mesbah Uddin

The characterization of a racecar’s aerodynamic behavior at various yaw and pitch configurations has always been an integral part of its on-track performance evaluation in terms of lap time predictions. Although computational fluid dynamics has emerged as the ubiquitous tool in motorsports industry, a clarity is still lacking about the prediction veracity dependence on the choice of turbulence models, which is central to the prediction variability and unreliability for the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes simulations, which is by far the most widely used computational fluid dynamics methodology in this industry. Subsequently, this paper presents a comprehensive assessment of three commonly used eddy viscosity turbulence models, namely, the realizable [Formula: see text] (RKE), Abe–Kondoh–Nagano [Formula: see text], and shear stress transport [Formula: see text], in predicting the aerodynamic characteristics of a full-scale NASCAR Monster Energy Cup racecar under various yaw and pitch configurations, which was never been explored before. The simulations are conducted using the steady Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes approach with unstructured trimmer cells. The tested yaw and pitch configurations were chosen in consultation with the race teams such that they reflect true representations of the racecar orientations during cornering, braking, and accelerating scenarios. The study reiterated that the prediction discrepancies between the turbulence models are mainly due to the differences in the predictions of flow recirculation and separation, caused by the individual model’s effectiveness in capturing the evolution of adverse pressure gradient flows, and predicting the onset of separation and subsequent reattachment (if there be any). This paper showed that the prediction discrepancies are linked to the computation of the turbulent eddy viscosity in the separated flow region, and using flow-visualizations identified the areas on the car body which are critical to this analysis. In terms of racecar aerodynamic performance parameter predictions, it can be reasonably argued that, excluding the prediction of the %Front prediction, shear stress transport is the best choice between the three tested models for stock-car type racecar Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes computational fluid dynamics simulations as it is the only model that predicted directionally correct changes of all aerodynamic parameters as the racecar is either yawed from the 0° to 3° or pitched from a high splitter-ground clearance to a low one. Furthermore, the magnitude of the shear stress transport predicted delta force coefficients also agreed reasonably well with test results.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edison H Caicedo ◽  
Muhammad S Virk

This article describes a multiphase computational fluid dynamics–based numerical study of the aeroacoustics response of symmetric and asymmetric wind turbine blade profiles in both normal and icing conditions. Three different turbulence models (Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes, detached eddy simulation, and large eddy simulation) have been used to make a comparison of numerical results with the experimental data, where a good agreement is found between numerical and experimental results. Detached eddy simulation turbulence model is found suitable for this study. Later, an extended computational fluid dynamics–based aeroacoustics parametric study is carried out for both normal (clean) and iced airfoils, where the results indicate a significant change in sound levels for iced profiles as compared to clean.


Author(s):  
J. Johansen ◽  
N. N. So̸rensen ◽  
J. A. Michelsen ◽  
S. Schreck

The Detached-Eddy Simulation model implemented in the computational fluid dynamics code, EllipSys3D, is applied on the flow around the NREL Phase-VI wind turbine blade. Results are presented for flow around a parked blade at fixed angle of attack and a blade pitching along the blade axis. Computed blade characteristics are compared with experimental data from the NREL/NASA Ames Phase-VI unsteady experiment. The Detached-Eddy Simulation model is a method for predicting turbulence in computational fluid dynamics computations, which combines a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes method in the boundary layer with a Large Eddy Simulation in the free shear flow. The present study focuses on static and dynamic stall regions highly relevant for stall regulated wind turbines. Computations do predict force coefficients and pressure distributions fairly good and results using Detached-Eddy Simulation show considerably more three-dimensional flow structures compared to conventional two-equation Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes turbulence models, but no particular improvements are seen on the global blade characteristics.


Author(s):  
Li-feng Song ◽  
Rui-feng Tian ◽  
Lan-xin Sun ◽  
Cong Shi ◽  
Peng Li

With the dramatic progress in the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology, this technology can be used in researching the knowledge of thermal–hydraulic characteristics in the rod bundles, particularly with the spacer grids. These characteristics, including fluid flow, turbulence, and heat transfer and so on, all of this information can be applied in design and the improvement of rod bundles. This paper calculated the single-phase flow field in rod bundles with different spacer grids respectively by numerical method, which was based on the experiment performed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Two types of grid designs are used, including the Split-type and Swirl-type, respectively. By analyzing the calculated results, discussing the feasibility of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology in thermal-hydraulic analysis of nuclear reactor, and obtaining the hydrodynamic performance of the two different types of spacer grids. The result showed that both of the two spacer grids led to intense cross-flow in the channel, and the cross-flow intensity decayed with the increasing of downstream distance after the spacer grids. Axial velocities were distributed uniformly in the channel.


Author(s):  
Ian Torotwa ◽  
Changying Ji

In this study, turbulent flow fields in a baffled vessel stirred by counter-axial flow impeller have been investigated in comparison to the Rushton turbine. The resultant turbulence was numerically predicted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Turbulence models were developed in ANSYS Fluent 18.1 solver using the Navier-Stokes equation with the standard k-ε turbulence model. The Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) approach was used to simulate the impeller action in the vertical and horizontal planes of the stirred fluid volume. Velocity profiles generated from the simulations were used to predict and compare the performance of the two designs. To validate the CFD model, the simulation results were compared with experimental results from existing work and a satisfactory agreement was established. It was concluded that the counter-axial flow impeller could provide better turbulence characteristics that would improve the quality of mixing systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (05) ◽  
pp. 2050065
Author(s):  
J. M. A. Navarro ◽  
J. F. Hinojosa ◽  
I. Hernández-López

This paper reports a computational fluid dynamics and experimental study to analyze the effect of surface thermal radiation on the turbulent natural convection in a closed cubic cavity. Experimental and numerical results are compared for low and high wall emissivities. Experimental temperature profiles were obtained at six different depths and heights consisting of 14 thermocouples each. Several turbulence models were evaluated against experimental data. It was found that renormalized [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] and standard [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] turbulence models present the best agreement with the experimental data for emissivities of walls of 0.98 and 0.03, respectively. Thus, the numerical results of temperature fields and flow patterns were obtained with these models. From the results, it was found that the effect of thermal radiation on experimental heat transfer coefficients is significantly, increased between 48.7% ([Formula: see text]) and 50.16% ([Formula: see text]), when the emissivity of the walls increases from 0.03 to 0.98. Therefore, the radiative exchange should not be neglected in heat transfer calculations in cubic enclosures, even if the temperature difference between heated wall and cold wall is relatively small (between 15 and 30[Formula: see text]K).


MRS Bulletin ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
Ikuo Sawada ◽  
Hiroyuki Tanaka ◽  
Masahiro Tanaka

Computational fluid dynamics was born principally in the aerospace field as a method for fluid flow and heat transfer research methods following experimental and analytical approaches. Along with progress in the cost performance of computers, computational fluid dynamics is now establishing itself as a tool to improve production processes and product quality in the steel, nonferrous metals, glass, plastics, and composite materials industries.Materials manufacturers use computational fluid dynamics for diverse purposes:1. Reduction in experimental conditions and costs;2. Detailed analysis of mechanisms with multifaceted information unobtainable through experimentation;3. Universal tool for scale-up; and4. Evaluation of novel processes.It can be readily imagined that accuracy, flexibility, and other requirements of computational fluid dynamics should vary with specific applications.Fluids generally observed in materials manufacturing processes are molten materials such as metal, glass, and plastics, and gases for stirring and refining. In the flow of such fluids, materials quality and process characteristics are governed by the following:1. Transport phenomena in the bulk region (where fluid flow is normally turbulent);2. Chemical reaction at interfaces;3. Transport phenomena in boundary layers near the interfaces; and4. Complex coupled phenomena (heat transfer, diffusion, chemical reaction, phase transformation like solidification, free surface, electromagnetic force, and bubble flow).


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