FLUENT CFD MODELING IN DESIGN OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL DRY STORAGE CASK

Open Access
- Author:
- Kern, Ludwig August
- Graduate Program:
- Nuclear Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- None
- Committee Members:
- Fan Bill B Cheung, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Fan Bill B Cheung, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
John Michael Cimbala, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- Fluent
fluent modeling
cfd
cfd modeling
fluent model
cfd model
computational fluid dynamics
nuclear
nuclear engineering
dry storage
dry storage cask
spent fuel
spent nuclear fuel
nuclear fuel
rbmk
chernobyl
holtec
thermal
heat transfer
natural convection
convection
natural convective flow
annular
prototype
full-scale
validation
cfd code
navier-stokes
navier-stokes equation - Abstract:
- A FLUENT Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of a spent nuclear fuel dry storage cask was created to predict several critical design temperatures in order to aid in the design of a dry storage cask. Thermal tests were conducted to determine the ability of the FLUENT CFD code to accurately predict solid structure and fluid temperatures in simple and complex flow geometries. The thermal tests included natural convective flow in a single heated annular tube and realistic heating of a full-scale prototype dry storage cask using heating configurations which bounded the heat source distributions of all possible fuel loading patterns. The FLUENT CFD model of the prototype dry storage cask was successful in demonstrating reasonable accuracy (20% agreement) in predicting the majority of temperatures measured during the thermal tests. The model showed even better accuracy in predicting the hottest rod temperature, the hottest temperature within the cask, which is a critical design temperature, and conservatively bounded all rod temperatures if allowance is given for the measurement uncertainties in the experimental data. However, there was no validation during this set of thermal experiments of the FLUENT CFD model’s ability to accurately model heat transfer between adjacent rods in individual fuel assemblies, which will be necessary before the model is ready for use as part of the thermal design basis for spent nuclear fuel dry storage cask design. A general discussion of computational methods, modeling methodology, FLUENT and other CFD codes, spent nuclear fuel storage, the design of nuclear fuel dry storage casks, and the heat transfer mechanisms modeled for the dry storage cask is also included in addition to the information specific to the dry storage cask FLUENT CFD model and the model validation experiments conducted with the full-scale prototype cask.