Kaushik das and jorgi solis

A numerical model to perform thermal analysis of the VSC17 cask was evaluated and
assessed in this study. The analysis provides a basis to validate the model construction using
an off-the-shelf commercial computational fluid dynamic solver and enhance the
understanding of the different modes of heat transfer (i.e., conduction, natural convection, and
radiation) from fuel assemblies under normal and off-normal operating conditions. Simulated
results were compared with experimental results. For all the cases, the computed results
showed similar trend and pattern and matched the experimental observation in a range of
5 percent. In almost all the cases, the simulated PCT was slightly higher than the experimental
data. However, the match between the computed results and the experimental data was better
when Nitrogen was used as a backfill gas inside the canister as compared to Helium backfill.
Simulations with a blocked vent showed higher deviation from experimental data, which can
be attributed to modeling issues at blockage boundaries and outer walls. A study of different
k- and k- turbulence models showed that the two different equation models provide
analogous results. Though the renormalization group k- model produced a slightly better
match, the results obtained from all the models were comparable.

CFD Calculation of Internal Natural

Convection in the Annulus between
Horizontal Concentric Cylinders
Nicholas D. Francis, Jr., Michael T. Itamura, Stephen W. Webb, and Darryl L. James

Based on this CFD analysis it was demonstrated that internal natural convection heat
transfer in the annulus between concentric cylinders, the equivalent thermal conductivity
correlation equations developed in the literature for concentric cylinders with small
geometric features (e.g., small radii) can also be applied to the concentric cylinder cases
with much larger geometric features up to a Rayleigh number of less than lo8 (this
includes both laminar and turbulent flow regimes). For Rayleigh numbers greater than
1 O8 (turbulent flow regime), the correlation equations overpredict heat transfer rates (e.g.,
a larger equivalent thermal conductivity) than both the CFD simulations presented in this
report and the experimental data presented in the heat transfer literature. At the higher
Rayleigh numbers, the numerical simulations are consistent with the experimental data. A
comparison of experimentally determined local heat transfer and temperature data to
CFD results indicates that the numerical simulations adequately represent the flow
physics occurring within the annulus, but, at transition to turbulence, flow features are
satisfied by both laminar and turbulence flow models. This being the case, it is necessary
to use a turbulence flow model that handles transitional effects as well as large Reynolds
number effects. Hence, the selection of the RNG k-E turbulent flow model with the
differential - equation for fluid viscosity is appropriate when considering natural
convection heat transfer and fluid flow in an annulus.

3-D CFD SIMULATION OF A VENTILATED CONCRETE CASK USED FOR

SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE
A. Y. Walavalkar, D. G. Schowalter

Numerical simulation using the commercial CFD software FLUENT was performed for the
VSC-17 spent fuel rod dry storage system. Flow equations with turbulence and energy equations
with thermal radiation were solved for a 90-degree section of the VSC-17 system. Results of the
simulation are compared with experimental data available. Comparisons of temperature profiles
from simulation at various axial as well as radial locations with the experimental values are
presented.
Simulation results are seen to predict the temperature values observed experimentally with high
accuracy in most of the flow domain and conservative results elsewhere. This validation shows
that CFD can be an effective tool in the Nuclear Waste Management area, providing much more
detailed information about the flow field, leading to higher fidelity in heat transfer predictions
and enabling further insight for design engineering. Such analyses can then be performed to
understand safety issues, cooling patterns and overall heat transfer efficiency for cask designs at
various heat loadings.

CFD SIMULATIONS OF NATURAL CONVECTION/RADIATION HEAT TRANSFER WITHIN

THE FUEL
REGIONS OF A TRUCK CASK FOR NORMAL TRANSPORT
Venkata V.R. Venigalla
Miles Greiner

two-dimensional finite volume mesh is constructed that

accurately represents the geometry of a legal weight truck cask,
including four PWR fuel assemblies inside. CFD simulations
calculate buoyancy driven gas motion as well as natural convection
and radiation heat transfer in the gas filled fuel regions. They also
calculate conduction within the cask solid components. The cask is
in a normal transportation environment. The fuel and cask
temperatures are calculated for ranges of fuel heat generation rate and
cladding emissivity, for both helium and nitrogen backfill gas. The
cask thermal capacity, which is the fuel heat generation rate that
brings the peak fuel cladding to its temperature limit, is also
determined. The results are compared to simulations in which the gas
speed is set to zero, to determine the effect of buoyancy induced
motion. The allowable heat generation rate is 23% higher for helium
than for nitrogen due to heliums higher thermal conductivity.
Increasing the cladding emissivity by 10% increases the allowed fuel
heating rate by 4% for nitrogen, but only 2% for helium. The higher
value for nitrogen is caused by the larger fraction of heat transported
by radiation when it is the backfill gas compared to helium. The
stagnant-gas calculations give only slightly higher cladding
temperatures than the gas-motion simulations. This is because
buoyancy induced gas motion does not greatly enhance heat transfer
compared to conduction and radiation for this configuration. The
cask thermal capacity from the stagnant-CFD calculation is therefore
essentially the same as that from the CFD simulation. This suggests
that future cask thermal calculations may not need to include gas
motion. These results must be experimentally benchmarked before
the CFD methods can be used with confidence for designing transport
casks. Basket surface temperatures calculated in this work can be
used as the basis for boundary condition in those experiments.

BENCHMARK NATURAL CONVECTION/RADIATION SIMULATIONS WITHIN AN

ENCLOSED
ARRAY OF HORIZONTAL HEATED RODS
Pablo E. Araya Gmez
Miles Greiner

Experiments performed by others measured the

temperature of an 8x8 array of horizontal heated rods in air
within a constant temperature enclosure. That apparatus was a
scaled-down model of a spent boiling water reactor fuel
assembly in a transport package. In the current work, three dimensional
computational fluid dynamics simulations of
natural convection and radiation heat transfer within this
domain were conducted to determine appropriate boundary
conditions and benchmark the results. Initial simulations
employed nearly equal specified temperatures on the walls and
endplates, and insulated rod ends. They accurately reproduced
the shapes of the temperature profiles in the mid plane between
the rod ends, but over-predicted the temperature level at the
highest heat load. Simulations that included conduction within
the endplates and convection from their outside surfaces more
accurately modeled heat losses. They brought the mid plane
temperatures at the highest heat load to the measured data once
an appropriate convection coefficient was determined. The
simulation technique will be used to design future experiments
that model heat transfer from spent fuel assemblies to highlynon-
isothermal support structures.

CFD calculation of convective heat transfer coefficients and validation Part 2:

Turbulent flow

Adam Neale1, Dominique Derome1, Bert Blocken2 and Jan Carmeliet2,3

When a fluid flows over a wall and heat is exchanged, the boundary layer (BL)
velocity profile will to a large extent determine the value of the convective heat
transfer coefficient (hc). Using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software
Fluent, the turbulent flow field and heat transfer is simulated for forced convection
over a smooth flat plate and the performance of the most commonly used turbulence
models is evaluated. The BL velocity and temperature profiles are compared with
semi-empirical near-wall data and the heat transfer coefficients calculated in Fluent
are validated by comparison with correlations from literature. In addition, a
simulation of natural convection is provided as an example of when wall function
theory fails.

Two simulations of natural convection were performed to investigate the

validity of wall functions for natural convection simulations. The Low-Reynoldsnumber
(Low-Re) simulation resulted in flow field and local velocity profiles
consistent with results seen in literature. The local velocity profiles were very
different from profiles obtained by the wall function equations, and the flow field
resulting from the wall function simulation differed significantly from the Low-Re case.
The dimensionless velocity profiles from the wall function simulation were very
different from natural convection results from literature. It is concluded that the
standard wall functions are not valid for cases involving natural convection and that
instead low-Re number modelling should be used.

HEAT TRANSFER THROUGH VERTICAL CYLINDER IN STATIONARY FLUID

M. ARSHAD, M. H. INAYAT and *I.R. CHUGHTAI

Natural convection heat transfer has been experimentally investigated for high Raleigh number by placing the cylindrical
heating element in stationary water. The uniform heat flux has been applied to large L/D ratio in this experiment. The
thermal behavior of this heating element has been found in good agreement with the existing information. The
temperature distribution along the surface of heating element with respect to the time was recorded. The experimental
result showed that the surface temperature of the water in narrow annular space heat sink increases more than that in
wide annular space heat sink with respect to time. The heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number and Raleigh number
have been presented for experimental data and the corresponding relation is developed.
The steady state natural convection heat transfer of uniformly heated vertical cylinder has been
investigated for high Grashof numbers. The local and average parameters are presented. The empirical
correlation for average Nusselt number and the product of average Raleigh number & D/L is obtained. The

experimental results shows an addition to the previous work as most of the results are reported for Ra
L
below the range of 1013
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to my supervisor Dr. Imran Rafiq Chughtai (May
his Soul rest in peace) for his remarkable guidance, constant supervision, during the research. I
would also acknowledge my co supervisor Dr Alam Nawaz Khan Wardag he has been a constant
source of inspiration and knowledge for this CFD simulation work until the interpretation of the
results I am also grateful for his moral support and continuous encouragement.

I also wish to gratefully acknowledge my senior Miss Wajeeha Kiran and my colleague Miss
Sadia Haider for their continuous help that has enabled me to complete this thesis.

Finally my heartfelt gratitude goes to my lovely Parents, because without their prayers and
support I would not be able to complete my research.
In this chapter the governing equations for natural convection heat transfer and the numerical
technique used to solve these equations have been presented.
Various simplifications have been used in the past to solve the natural
convection problem numerically as well as analytically.
G.E:
The convective heat transfer phenomenon, in general, can be represented by
the continuity, momentum and energy balance equations in their generalised form for
multiphase and multicomponent transport. However for natural convection problems
modelled in this study only a simplified form of these equations is sufficient since all
simulations carried out involve a single phase, incompressible and low velocity flow.
The three-dimensional, time dependent, single phase, buoyancy driven flows can
therefore be represented by the following equations expressed in an indicial tensor
notation. The FLUENT code solves the general form of the Continuity, Momentum & Energy
equations. For modelling the natural convection problems simplified form of these equations have
been used. The compressive work and terms of the viscous dissipation can be neglected in
phenomenon of natural convection due to the smaller values of the velocities involved. The time
dependent three-dimensional natural convection flows can be represented by the equation given
below.
All the three equations mentioned above are for the unsteady flow of the Newtonian fluid. Natural
convection is the main phenomenon due to the buoyancy effect which is caused by the density
difference. As we know density is a strong function of temperature; as the temperature of any fluid
changes its density also varies according. So to solve the velocity field it is necessary here to
consider the temperature field information. Therefore, it is necessary to solve the above equations
simultaneously which is very challenging task.
Due to the non-linear and implicit nature of the above mentioned conservation
equations, the analytical solutions for most of the cases of practical interest do not
exist. The numerical techniques used to solve these equations are covered in the
subject of computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer. In the past, the use of
numerical methods for the analyses of fluid dynamics and heat transfer problems has
been limited due to the requirement of high computational power for their
implementation. This limitation has now been eliminated due to the availability of
high speed computers and commercial computer codes. Many numerical techniques
are being used for the computational analyses of fluid dynamics and heat transfer
problems, for example, Finite Difference Method, Finite Element Method, Boundary
Element Method, Finite Volume Method etc.

Finite Volume Method (FVM)

The first step in the finite volume method to obtain numerical solution is that the geometric domain
must be discretized. After this the second step is to make the control volumes of the solution domain,
defining the boundaries of the control volume. Computational nodes are assigned midway between
these control volumes. At each CV the discretization equations are applied so that covering the whole
domain. So a discretization equation group is obtained for the unknown variables. The consequential
solution is present in the control volume method which results in the satisfactory application of the
conservation of the Mass, Momentum and Energy on each of the control volume.

The Solution Algorithm SIMPLE

The solution algorithm used in this study for calculating the pressure field is a
pressure based method called SIMPLE algorithm. SIMPLE abbreviates Semi-Implicit
Method for Pressure-Linked Equations. The main calculation steps are shown in Fig.
3.3 and listed as:
1. Guess the pressure field p*.
2. Solve the momentum equation, Eq. 3.12.
3. Solve the pressure correction equation, Eq. 3.21.
4. Calculate p from p = p* + p, Eq. 3.15.
5. Calculate u, v and w velocities using the velocity correction formulae Eqs.
3.18 to 3.20.
6. Solve other flow dependent 's like enthalpy and scalars like fluid density,
viscosity, etc. If these variables do not influence the flow field they can be
found after obtaining a converged velocity field. However in natural
convection problems these do influence the flow field and must be updated
at this stage.
7. Treat the corrected p as a new guess p* and repeat step 2-6 till convergence

Large Eddy Simulation (LES)

As wide range of the length and time scales are present in the turbulent flows. The large scale
motions are generally much more energetic than the small scale ones; their size and strength make
them by far the most effective transporters of the conserved properties. The small scales are usually
much weaker and provide little transport of these properties. To treats the large eddies in simulation
more perfectly as compared to the smaller ones, large eddy simulation method is the preferred one
approach used. The technique of Large Eddy Simulation is 3-D, unsteady and expensive but much
less costly than DNS of the same flow. LES is the preferred method for flows in which the Reynolds
number is too high or the geometry is too complex.
LES is a transient turbulence model that falls midway between
RANS and DNS models.
Its main advantage is improved accuracy compared to RANS
models.
Small eddies are removed, and modeled using a subgrid-scale (SGS) model.
Large eddies are retained, and solved for directly using a transient calculation.
Requires 3-D transient modeling.
Requires spatial and temporal resolution of scales in inertial subrange.
Large Eddy Simulation can be considered as a compromise between
accuracy and time compared to the conventional eddy viscosity models
and Direct Numerical Simulation method. Alike DNS, the governing
equations have an unsteady characteristic in order to capture the large
scale turbulence. However, the mesh does not need to be as _ne as
DNS. In order to advance the _ow to become fully developed in time, it
is even possible to start the calculations from an initial value obtained
from conventional eddy-viscosity models.
To study the natural convection boundary layer along a vertical cylinder,
both simpli_ed geometry and initial values for mean _ow parameters
were adopted

Pressure-Based Solver
In the pressure-based solver, each
equation is solved separately.
The continuity equation takes the
form of a pressure correction equation
as part of Patankars SIMPLE
algorithm.
Under-relaxation factors are included
in the discretized equations.
Included to improve stability of
iterative process.
An explicit under-relaxation factor, ,
limits change in variable from one
iteration to the next:
p p p = +

The finite volume method

Each transport equation is discretized into algebraic form. For cell P,
Discretized equations require information at both cell centers and
faces.
Field data (material properties, velocities, etc.) are stored at cell centers.
Face values are interpolated in terms of local and adjacent cell values.
Discretization accuracy depends on the stencil size.
The discretized equation can be expressed simply as
Equation is written for every control volume in the domain resulting in an
equation set.////desktop//solversettings

Results:
The maximum temperature (and hence
maximum buoyancy) of fluid is on the surface of the heated plate but the fluid
velocity on the solid surface must be zero due to viscous effects. This effect has been
simulated by employing a no-slip boundary condition on the surface of the vertical
plate. However due to a high buoyancy region near the wall the fluid velocity rises
sharply near the plate surface and passes through a maximum. The fluid velocity then
decreases gradually away from the plate following the temperature profile

It can be seen in Fig. 5.10 that at higher values of Local Raleigh number,
Rax, the local Nusselt number, Nux, is only a function of Rax and hence the Nux vs. Rax
curves for all surface temperatures overlap at high values of Rax. However for lower
values of Rax, the Nux - Rax curves are distinct. This may be due to a stronger
dependence of natural convection on Prandtl number at low Rax values as described
above. The data shown in Fig. 5.10 has been correlated in terms of local Grashof
number, Grx, and Prandtl number as given below.

The Nux can be seen to increase with Rax in Fig. 5.24. In fact Nux
has been defined as (hx/k), where x is the axial distance from the lower end of the
cylinder (see Fig. 5.21). The increase in Nux with Rax is mainly due to increase in x.
The actual heat transfer variable, i.e. heat transfer coefficient h, is found to decrease
along the length of the cylinder. This decrease in h is mainly due to an increase in the
thickness of the boundary layer along x that offers added resistance to the heat
transfer. The growth of hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers can be observed
in Fig. 5.25 to 5.27.
the Nux vs. Rax curves for all the surface temperatures for a thin cylinder
can be seen to be more distinct at low Rax values, whereas at high Rax values the
curves tend to get closer (although the y-axis in Fig. 5.30 is on a log-scale but the
relative difference is still less for higher Rax values). The reason might be the same as
explained for isothermal vertical plate, i.e., at low Rax values the contribution from
conduction heat transfer becomes more important and hence the natural convection
phenomenon becomes a stronger function of physical properties or Pr.
However in the
present case the wall temperature increases along the length of the cylinder. This has
the same explanation as that given for a vertical plate with uniform heat flux on the
surface; i.e., the heat transfer coefficients in the upper portion of cylinder is small and
hence the temperature of the surface has to increase in order to deliver the same heat
per unit area as does the lower portion.