CFD analysis of coolant channel geometries for a tightly packed fuel rods assembly of Super FBR

This paper presents the CFD investigation on three cross-sectional geometries of coolant channels in the newly designed tightly packed fuel rods assembly for high breeding of a supercritical-pressure light water cooled fast breeding reactor (Super FBR). The calculations addressed the turbulence models and mesh conditions validated against the experimental data. The cladding temperatures and pressure drop are compared. It is concluded that geometry B (triangle with round corner) is superior to the other two (round and triangle with sharp corner) due to its excellent thermal hydraulic characteristics.