CFD analysis of heat transfer in subchannels of a Super Fast Reactor

This paper presents CFD analyses of heat transfer in subchannels of a Super Fast Reactor fuel assembly. Analyses are concentrated on the circumferential temperature distribution on the cladding outer surface because the Maximum Cladding Surface Temperature (MCST) has been a crucial design parameter to evaluate fuel cladding integrity of the Super Fast Reactor. Speziale non-linear high Re k–ɛ model, which can reproduce the anisotropic turbulence flow in non-circular flow channels, with two-layer near-wall treatment is adopted. The results show that heat conduction in the cladding should be considered in the CFD analyses. Larger circumferential temperature gradient occurs on the cladding surface in the edge and corner subchannels than that in the ordinary subchannel because of their special geometries causing larger heterogeneity of mass flow rate distribution inside the subchannels. Improved subchannel configurations to reduce the circumferential temperature gradient are proposed. This study will be a good guideline to the future core design improvement.