Spectral Element Code Development for Incompressible Flow Simulations In the Subchannel of a Fuel Rod Bundle
16th Symposium of AER on VVER Reactor Physics and Reactor Safety (2006, Bratislava, Slovakia)
Reactor Dynamics, Thermal Hydraulics and Safety Analysis
Abstract
An intensive research has been started in our institute focusing on the hydrodynamics of fuel rod bundles. Both the numerical and the experimental works have been started. One of the several home-developed computational codes is based on the spectral element method. The spectral element method is a relatively new and promising method to simulate incompressible fluid flows in complex geometries. It unites the geometric flexibility of finite element methods and the accuracy of spectral methods. The aim of the work is to accurately simulate and explore the secondary flow patterns of fluid flow in a subchannel of VVER-440 fuel rod bundles.
The concept of the spectral element methods is presented, and the algorithm used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations is detailed. The design and implementation issues of a parallel spectral element code that is able to simulate fluid flows in arbitrary geometries are also discussed. Some preliminary results of flow simulations for a subchannel of a fuel rod bundle are presented. These results are compared with the results obtained by a code based on the lattice Boltzmann method.