Title: Numerical simulation of the combined nanofluid effects on heat transfer characteristics in VVER-1000 nuclear reactor

Authors: Seyeed Mohammad Mousavi Zadeh; Gholam Reza Ansarifar; Mansour Talebi

Addresses: Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Sciences & Technologies, University of Isfahan, Postal Code: 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran ' Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Sciences & Technologies, University of Isfahan, Postal Code: 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran ' Nuclear Science & Technology Research Institute, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: Nanoparticles have been investigated during the recent decade. The most important advantage of nanoparticles is increased thermal conductivity coefficient and convection heat transfer coefficient. In this paper, the effects of the combined nanofluid (Al2O3-TiO2/water) on the heat transfer characteristics such as thermal conductivity coefficient, heat transfer coefficient, fuel clad and fuel centre temperatures in VVER-1000 reactor are investigated numerically, based on the K-ωSST Turbulence model. Therefore, at first, the cell equivalents for a fuel rod and its surrounding coolant fluid are obtained in the hexagonal fuel assembly of VVER-1000 reactor. Then, a fuel rod is simulated in the hot channel using CFD simulation codes, and thermo-hydraulic calculations (maximum fuel temperature, fluid outlet, MDNBR, etc.) are done and compared with a VVER-1000 reactor without nanoparticles. As one of the most important results of the conducted analysis, it could be observed that heat transfer and thermal conductivity coefficient increased and DNBR of the nanoparticle combination state was better than that of nanofluid and nanoparticle state.

Keywords: heat transfer coefficient; combined nanofluids; MDNBR; VVER-1000 nuclear reactors; K-omegaSST turbulence modelling; numerical simulation; nuclear energy; nuclear power; nanotechnology; nanoparticles; thermal conductivity; convection heat transfer; fuel clad temperature; fuel centre temperature; cell equivalents; fuel rods; coolant fluids; computational fluid dynamics; CFD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2016.077481

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2016 Vol.10 No.2, pp.164 - 182

Received: 05 Nov 2015
Accepted: 19 Feb 2016

Published online: 03 Jul 2016 *

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