Numerical simulations on turbulent heat transfer characteristics of supercritical pressure fluids

Nakatsuka, Toru  ; Takase, Kazuyuki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki  ; Misawa, Takeharu

As one of next generation nuclear reactors, development of a supercritical pressure water reactor (SCWR) has been performed. In order to design the SCWR, it is necessary to investigate thermal-hydraulic characteristics in the SCWR core precisely. As for those characteristics, many experimental studies have been conducted from the former in each country using circular tubes, annular channels and the simulated fuel bundles. An objective of this study is to clarify the prediction accuracy of the turbulent heat transfer characteristics in the supercritical pressure fluids for the SCWR design. From the experimental results of the supercritical pressure fluids flowing upward in a vertical circular tube, it was confirmed that the turbulent heat transfer coefficient suddenly decreases under the high heat flux condition. Although many numerical studies have been done in order to confirm the deterioration of turbulent heat transfer in supercritical pressure fluids, it is important to choose a suitable turbulence model to obtain high prediction accuracy. Then, the prediction accuracy on the deteriorated turbulent heat transfer was investigated numerically using four kinds of turbulence models, SKE, MKE, RSM and LES. The predicted result of each turbulence model was compared with the experimental results of the concentric smooth annulus and vertical circular tube. From the results of the present study, it was found that LES is the most effective to simulate the deterioration of the turbulent heat transfer at the supercritical pressure fluids.