Title: Effects of some calculation parameters on the computational modelling of temperature, velocity and gas volume fraction during steady-state operation of an aqueous homogeneous reactor

Authors: Daniel Milian Pérez; Daniel E. Milian Lorenzo; Carlos A. Brayner De Oliveira Lira; Carlos R. García Hernández; Lorena P. Rodríguez Garcia; Manuel Cadavid Rodríguez

Addresses: Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences (InSTEC), Avenida Salvador Allende y Luaces, Quinta de Los Molinos, Plaza de la Revolución, 10400 Havana, Cuba ' Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences (InSTEC), Avenida Salvador Allende y Luaces, Quinta de Los Molinos, Plaza de la Revolución, 10400 Havana, Cuba ' Departamento de Energía Nuclear, Universidad Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Cidade Universitária, Avenida Professor Luiz Freire, 1000 Recife, PE, Brazil ' Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences (InSTEC), Avenida Salvador Allende y Luaces, Quinta de Los Molinos, Plaza de la Revolución, 10400 Havana, Cuba ' Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences (InSTEC), Avenida Salvador Allende y Luaces, Quinta de Los Molinos, Plaza de la Revolución, 10400 Havana, Cuba ' Algae Fuels S. A., Av. Raúl Labbé 12.613 of 421 Lo Barnechea, Santiago, Chile

Abstract: This paper is part of the ongoing efforts to contribute to the thermal-hydraulic analysis of one of the most promising alternatives to produce medical isotopes and meeting current and future demand for ⁹⁹Mo: the use of Aqueous Homogeneous Reactors (AHRs). In this paper, the effects of some calculation parameters like mesh refinement, time step size, turbulence models, transient schemes and numerical advection scheme on the computational modelling of key parameters of an AHR steady-state operation have been investigated. For this purpose, a 75 kWth AHR conceptual design based on the ARGUS reactor, six meshes, five time step sizes, three different models for solving flow problems, three numerical advection schemes and the available transient schemes were used in the simulations. The numerical simulations were carried out using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) code ANSYS CFX 14. The results of the CFD simulations allow developing a detailed and improved CFD model of the AHR core on which the effects of the investigated calculation parameters are quantifiable.

Keywords: aqueous homogeneous reactor; CFD; thermal-hydraulics study; mesh refinement; time step size; turbulence model; numerical scheme.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2017.085072

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2017 Vol.11 No.1, pp.1 - 21

Received: 06 Sep 2016
Accepted: 15 Dec 2016
Published online: 10 Jul 2017 *

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