Abstract
A numerical simulation study was performed to clarify the thermal mixing characteristics of coolant in the core bottom structure of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR). The flow field and temperature field in the hot gas chamber and the hot gas duct of the HTR were obtained based on the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program. The numerical simulation results showed that the helium flow with different temperatures in the hot gas mixing chamber and the hot gas duct mixed intensively, and the mixing rate of the temperature in the outlet of the hot gas duct reached 98 %. The results indicated many large-scale swirling flow structures and strong turbulence in the hot gas mixing chamber and the entrance of the hot gas duct, which were responsible for the excellent thermal mixing of the hot gas chamber and the hot gas duct. The calculated results showed that the temperature mixing rate of the hot gas chamber decreased only marginally with increasing Reynolds number.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Z. Zhang, Y. Sun, Economic potential of modular reactor nuclear power plants based on the Chinese HTR-PM project. Nucl. Eng. Des. 237, 2265–2274 (2007). doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2007.04.001
X. Yu, S. Yu, Analysis of fuel element matrix graphite corrosion in HTR-PM for normal operating conditions. Nucl. Eng. Des. 240, 738–743 (2010). doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2009.12.015
S.X. Song, Q. Wei, X.Z. Cai et al., High temperature gas-cooled pebble bed reactor steady state thermal-hydraulics analyses based on CFD method. Nucl. Tech. 36, 120601 (2013). (in Chinese)
M. Hishida, N. Akino, M. Ogawa et al., Heat transfer problems in a VHTR, in Proceedings of Heat Transfer in High Technology and Power Engineering (Hemisphere Publ. Co., 1987), pp. 273–284
Y. Inagaki, T. Kunugi, Y. Miyamoto, Thermal mixing test of coolant in the core bottom structure of a high temperature engineering test reactor. Nucl. Eng. Des. 123, 77–86 (1990). doi:10.1016/0029-5493(90)90272-Y
Y. Inagaki, K. Kunitomi, Y. Miyamoto et al., Thermal-hydraulic characteristics of coolant in the core bottom structure of the high-temperature engineering test reactor. Nucl. Technol. 99(1), 90–103 (1992)
G. Damm, K. Wehrlein, Simulation tests for temperature mixing in a core bottom model of the HTR-Module. Nucl. Eng. Des. 137, 97–105 (1992). doi:10.1016/0029-5493(92)90054-Y
M. Yao, Z. Huang, C. Ma et al., Simulating test for thermal mixing in the hot gas chamber of the HTR-10. Nucl. Eng. Des. 218, 233–240 (2002). doi:10.1016/S0029-5493(02)00195-4
B.W. Travis, M.S. El-Genk, Thermal-hydraulics analyses for 1/6 prismatic VHTR core and fuel element with and without bypass flow. Energy Convers. Manag. 67, 325–341 (2013). doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2012.11.003
M. Rahimi, A. Parvareh, Experimental and CFD investigation on mixing by a jet in a semi-industrial stirred tank. Chem. Eng. Sci. 115, 85–92 (2005). doi:10.1016/j.cej.2005.09.021
C.C. Liu, Y.M. Feng, C.K. Shih, CFD evaluation of turbulence models for flow simulation of the fuel rod bundle with a spacer assembly. Appl. Therm. Eng. 40, 389–396 (2012). doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.02.027
X. Luo, Y. Feng, G. Xu et al., Numerical simulation of flow and heat transfer performances in a direct transfer pre-swirl system. J. Aero. Pow. 27, 2188–2193 (2012) (in Chinese)
Acknowledgments
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11375099).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhou, YP., Hao, PF., Zhang, XW. et al. Numerical investigations of thermal mixing performance of a hot gas mixing structure in high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. NUCL SCI TECH 27, 23 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-016-0024-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-016-0024-7