Large eddy simulation of a T-Junction with upstream elbow: The role of Dean vortices in thermal fatigue

Turbulent mixing of fluids in a T-Junction can generate oscillating thermal stresses in pipe walls, which may lead to high cycle thermal fatigue. This thermal stripping problem is an important safety issue in nuclear plant thermal-hydraulic systems, since it can lead to unexpected failure of the pipe material. Here, we carry out a large eddy simulation (LES) of a T-Junction with an upstream bend and use proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to identify the dominant structures in the flow. The bend generates an unsteady secondary flow about the pipe axis, known as Dean vortex swirl-switching. This provides an additional mechanism for low-frequency near-wall temperature fluctuations downstream of the T-Junction, over those that would be produced by mixing in the same T-Junction with straight inlets. The paper highlights the important role of neighbouring pipe bends in T-Junction thermal fatigue problems and the need to include them when using CFD as a predictive tool.