TY - GEN
T1 - CFD Investigation on Coolant Flow Behavior of LBE Cooled Fuel Assemblies with Different Bundle Size
AU - Luo, Guanwen
AU - Xing, Jun
AU - Wang, Kuo
AU - Pan, Jingwei
AU - Xie, Yiliang
AU - Wu, Xiaohang
AU - Zhang, Huiyong
AU - Tian, Wenxi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2026.
PY - 2026
Y1 - 2026
N2 - When conducting experimental and numerical study on LBE cooled fuel assembly, smaller bundle size can massively reduce experiment material consumption and computational costs. In order to specify representative fuel bundle that is able to capture the coolant flow characteristics of larger bundle size, the paper performs CFD simulation on 7-rod, 19-rod, 37-rod and 61-rod bundle wire-wrapped LBE cooled fuel assemblies. Based on the comparison study, it is found the friction factor profile among four bundles is highly aligned, and the difference of pressure values is within 2%. When bundle size larger than 19-rod, they resemble in axial and lateral velocity distribution profile, indicating similar periodic flow behavior. But the magnitude of split factor (Uz,scUz,sc/U¯z) and transverse velocity values among four bundles shows disparity. In terms of subchannel mass exchange characteristics, the flow sweeping mixing rates in edge subchannel is larger than that in central subchannel. For 19-rod, 37-rod and 61-rod bundles, the mixing rates in edge subchannel are close, leading to similar subchannel temperature increment. Based on the results, 7-rod fuel assembly bundle is recommended to obtain friction characteristics for larger bundles, while the 19-rod fuel assembly bundle is preferred to stand for periodic flow behavior, mass exchange and subchannel temperature increment characteristics.
AB - When conducting experimental and numerical study on LBE cooled fuel assembly, smaller bundle size can massively reduce experiment material consumption and computational costs. In order to specify representative fuel bundle that is able to capture the coolant flow characteristics of larger bundle size, the paper performs CFD simulation on 7-rod, 19-rod, 37-rod and 61-rod bundle wire-wrapped LBE cooled fuel assemblies. Based on the comparison study, it is found the friction factor profile among four bundles is highly aligned, and the difference of pressure values is within 2%. When bundle size larger than 19-rod, they resemble in axial and lateral velocity distribution profile, indicating similar periodic flow behavior. But the magnitude of split factor (Uz,scUz,sc/U¯z) and transverse velocity values among four bundles shows disparity. In terms of subchannel mass exchange characteristics, the flow sweeping mixing rates in edge subchannel is larger than that in central subchannel. For 19-rod, 37-rod and 61-rod bundles, the mixing rates in edge subchannel are close, leading to similar subchannel temperature increment. Based on the results, 7-rod fuel assembly bundle is recommended to obtain friction characteristics for larger bundles, while the 19-rod fuel assembly bundle is preferred to stand for periodic flow behavior, mass exchange and subchannel temperature increment characteristics.
KW - Bundle size
KW - CFD
KW - Friction factor
KW - Fuel assembly bundle
KW - LBE
KW - Mass exchange
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105023405206
U2 - 10.1007/978-981-95-3401-2_25
DO - 10.1007/978-981-95-3401-2_25
M3 - 会议稿件
AN - SCOPUS:105023405206
SN - 9789819534005
T3 - Springer Proceedings in Physics
SP - 325
EP - 338
BT - Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering—Volume 11; ICONE 2025, Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD and Applications I
A2 - Tan, Sichao
A2 - Xu, Weiqiang
A2 - Zhu, Yanyan
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
T2 - 32nd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, ICONE 2025
Y2 - 22 June 2025 through 26 June 2025
ER -