Project Details
Problem Statement
Phase change is the most effective cooling mechanism available to designers in the development of engineering systems. Accurate prediction of phase change and multiphase flow has long been important in large scale electric generation systems, which often use steam turbines to drive electrical generators. Many advanced reactor designs will continue to rely on advanced steam cycles and phase change is becoming a more common feature of cooling systems for high performance engines and high power density electronics.
Technical Approach
The accurate prediction of multiphase flow phenomena has traditionally been built upon a foundation of series of experiments that are used to calibrate an engineering model that describes the heat transfer characteristics of a coolant under a particular set of conditions. Advanced simulation methods, based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques are being developed to enable more direct assessment of the impacts of underlying physical phenomena associated with bubble formation, bubble transport, coalescence, and condensation. Methods are also being developed to utilize these high resolution simulation results to improve the accuracy and expand the applicability of more conventional engineering models.
Benefit
Robust and accurate CFD methods can reduce the need for costly series of large scale thermal hydraulics experiments to develop new designs and confirm their safety performance.
Sponsors
US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors
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