Possibilities and Limitations of CFD Simulation for Flashing Flow Scenarios in Nuclear Applications

Yixiang Liao and Dirk Lucas
Additional contact information
Yixiang Liao: Gesellschaft für Anlagen-und Reaktorsicherheit, Boltzmannstraße 14, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Dirk Lucas: Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Fluid Dynamics, Bautzner Landstraße 400, 01328 Dresden, Germany

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: The flashing phenomenon is relevant to nuclear safety analysis, for example by a loss of coolant accident and safety release scenarios. It has been studied intensively by means of experiments and simulations with system codes, but computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is still at the embryonic stage. Rapid increasing computer speed makes it possible to apply the CFD technology in such complex flow situations. Nevertheless, a thorough evaluation on the limitations and restrictions is still missing, which is however indispensable for reliable application, as well as further development. In the present work, the commonly-used two-fluid model with different mono-disperse assumptions is used to simulate various flashing scenarios. With the help of available experimental data, the results are evaluated, and the limitations are discussed. A poly-disperse method is found necessary for a reliable prediction of mean bubble size and phase distribution. The first attempts to trace the evolution of the bubble size distribution by means of poly-disperse simulations are made.

Keywords: flashing; computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation; two-fluid-model; mono-disperse; poly-disperse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/1/139/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/1/139/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:1:p:139-:d:88539

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().