CFD analysis of PAR performance as function of inlet design

•The new concept of PAR (passive autocatalytic recombiner) was proposed and analyzed.•Guidance wall was added at the bottom of PAR to enhance the flow rate through the catalyst.•The new concept of PAR was proved to have a better hydrogen removal performance.

Passive autocatalytic recombiner (PAR) is very useful hydrogen mitigation measurement. It is widely implemented in the current and advanced light water reactors (ALWRs). The design of the PARs should be optimized for the specific use under severe accident scenarios. Several techniques and innovations have been fused into the PAR, as an effort to increase its efficiency of hydrogen mitigation. This study proposes different concepts of PAR, which applied some changes to the honeycomb catalyst PAR made by the Korea Nuclear Technology (KNT) Inc. Two slices of plate are added to the bottom of PAR model, which intended to act as a reflection wall and promote the gas flow into PAR. Hydrogen volume fraction was given 4 vol. % which tested by KNT to investigate the performance of PAR in different direction gas flow conditions to see maximum hydrogen recombination rate. The new concept of PAR was proved to have a better hydrogen removal performance compared to the original honeycomb catalyst PAR.