Numerical simulation of split vane in a 60 fuel rod bundle of VVER-440 reactor and survey the effect of large length split vane (LLSV) and half-length split vane (HLSV) on heat transfer distribution

Abstract

In the present study, the fuel bundle in the VVER-440 nuclear reactor is simulated and thermohydraulic parameters such as heat transfer coefficient; pressure drop and temperature of fuel rods are estimated. The most research that has been done is related to split vanes of square fuel bundle; however our objective in this study is to investigate split vanes of triangular fuel bundle. Due to lack of experimental results, the validity of CFD analysis of calculation is performed with three models of turbulence. The results showed that using split vane over the triangular fuel bundle led to decrease heat transfer coefficient while heat transfer coefficient is increased in square array fuel bundle. © IDOSI Publications, 2012.