Computational fluid dynamics analysis of the Canadian deuterium uranium moderator tests at the Stern Laboratories Inc.

A numerical calculation with the commercial computational fluid dynamics code CFX-14.0 was conducted for a test facility simulating the Canadian deuterium uranium moderator thermal–hydraulics. Two kinds of moderator thermal–hydraulic tests at Stern Laboratories Inc. were performed in the full geometric configuration of the Canadian deuterium uranium moderator circulating vessel, which is called a calandria tank, housing a matrix of horizontal rod bundles simulating calandria tubes. The first of these tests is the pressure drop measurement of a cross flow in the horizontal rod bundles. The other is the local temperature measurement on the cross section of the horizontal cylinder vessel simulating the calandria system. In the present study, the full geometric details of the calandria tank are incorporated in the grid generation of the computational domain to which the boundary conditions for each experiment are applied. The numerical solutions are reviewed and compared with the available test data.