Macroscopic pin bundle model and its blockage simulations

• A macroscopic differential model of pin bundle flow is proposed for CFD simulations.
• Pressure drops are treated anisotropically based on drag coefficients.
• The model is implemented in the SIMMER-III code.
• Subchannel blockage accidents are simulated for the MYRRHA design.

In this paper a macroscopic continuum differential model of pin bundle flow is proposed and developed for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of a reactor core. Thereby the pin bundle flow is regarded as a porous medium flow that is characterized by a certain coolant volume fraction and an associated wet area. The frictional drags experienced by pins and wrappers in the axial and radial directions are converted to pressure drops, i.e. momentum exchange terms, which are therefore anisotropic from the macroscopic point of view. Such a model reduces the number of CFD meshes very much and can be applied for a whole reactor core flow simulation without losing details of subchannel flow. In particular the model is implemented in the SIMMER-III code and applied for the MYRRHA reactor design. A steady state of subchannel flow, which is considerably non-uniform in the radial direction, is investigated and compared with a subchannel code. Satisfactory agreements are achieved. As a practical example the subchannel blockage in the central channels is considered and simulated. The scenario of pin failure and fuel sweep-out is expected, but it can take place already at 50% area blockage in a fuel assembly, if the blockage is located at the entrance of the active zone.