Development of a methodological approach and numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the intermediate heat exchanger of a BN reactor

Fadeev I.D., Aksenov A.A., Dmitrieva I.V., Nizamutdinov V.R., Pakholkov V.V., Rogozhkin S.A., Sazonova M.L., Shepelev S.F.
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The paper presents the results of three-dimensional numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the Intermediate Heat Exchanger of the advanced Sodium-Cooled Fast-Neutron (BN) Reactor considering a developed methodological approach.

The Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) is located in the reactor vessel and intended to transfer heat from the primary sodium circulating on the shell side to the secondary sodium circulating on the tube side. In case of an integral layout of the primary equipment in the BN reactor, upstream the IHX inlet windows there is a temperature stratification of the coolant due to incomplete mixing of different temperature flows at the core outlet. Inside the IHX, in the area of the input and output windows, a complex longitudinal and transverse flow of the coolant also takes place resulting in an uneven distribution of the coolant flow rate on the tube side and, as a consequence, in an uneven temperature distribution and heat transfer efficiency along the height and radius of the tube bundle.

In order to confirm the thermal-hydraulic parameters of the IHX of the advanced BN reactor applied in the design, a methodological approach for three-dimensional numerical simulation of the heat exchanger located in the reactor vessel was developed, taking into account the three-dimensional sodium flow pattern at the IHX inlet and inside the IHX, as well as justifying the recommendations for simplifying the geometry of the computational model of the IHX.

Numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the IHX of the advanced BN reactor was carried out using the FlowVision software package with the standard $k-\varepsilon$ turbulence model and the LMS turbulent heat transfer model.

To increase the representativeness of numerical simulation of the IHX tube bundle, verification calculations of singletube and multi-tube sodium-sodium heat exchangers were performed with the geometric characteristics corresponding to the IHX design.

To determine the input boundary conditions in the IHX model, an additional three-dimensional calculation was performed taking into account the uneven flow pattern in the upper mixing chamber of the reactor.

The IHX computational model was optimized by simplifying spacer belts and selecting a sector model.

As a result of numerical simulation of the IHX, the distributions of the primary sodium velocity and primary and secondary sodium temperature were obtained. Satisfactory agreement of the calculation results with the design data on integral parameters confirmed the adopted design thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the IHX of the advanced BN reactor.

Keywords: methodological approach, sodium, Intermediate Heat Exchanger, BN reactor, conjugate heat transfer, thermal hydraulics, numerical simulation
Citation in English: Fadeev I.D., Aksenov A.A., Dmitrieva I.V., Nizamutdinov V.R., Pakholkov V.V., Rogozhkin S.A., Sazonova M.L., Shepelev S.F. Development of a methodological approach and numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the intermediate heat exchanger of a BN reactor // Computer Research and Modeling, 2023, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 877-894
Citation in English: Fadeev I.D., Aksenov A.A., Dmitrieva I.V., Nizamutdinov V.R., Pakholkov V.V., Rogozhkin S.A., Sazonova M.L., Shepelev S.F. Development of a methodological approach and numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the intermediate heat exchanger of a BN reactor // Computer Research and Modeling, 2023, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 877-894
DOI: 10.20537/2076-7633-2023-15-4-877-894
URL: http://crm-en.ics.org.ru/journal/article/3363/
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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