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Thermal Hydraulics

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Thermal hydraulics modeling and simulation at ORNL relies on a combination of custom code development, leveraging of open source software, and extension of commercial codes. These codes span a range of resolutions, including:

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) capabilities that provide fully resolved numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations
Large eddy simulation (LES) capabilities that fully resolve large scale turbulence structures and use engineering models to describe structures smaller than the computational mesh elements
Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulation capabilities that rely on engineering models to describe all turbulence • Advanced mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for simulating turbulent flows
Multiphase CFD using the level set and volume of fluid methods
Subchannel models which provide reduced order lumped parameter representations of thermal hydraulic phenomena
Lumped thermal-hydraulics component models to simulate an entire nuclear system including the balance of plant