Thermal-hydraulic study of the LBE-cooled fuel assembly in the MYRRHA reactor: Experiments and simulations

In this general context, this topic is studied both experimentally and numerically in the framework of the European FP7 project SEARCH (2011-2015). An experimental campaign, including a 19-rod bundle with wire spacers, cooled by LBE is undertaken at KIT. With prototypical geometry and operating conditions, it is intended to evaluate the validity of current empirical correlations for the MYRRHA conditions and, at the same time, to provide validation data for the CFD simulations performed at NRG. The results of one benchmarking case are presented in this work. Moreover, this validated approach is then used for simulating a complete MYRRHA fuel assembly (127 rods).