LES-WALE simulation on two liquid mixing in the horizontal legs and downcomer; The Open-test condition in the TAMU-CFD benchmark (IBE-5)

Abe, Satoshi  ; Okagaki, Yuria  ; Ishigaki, Masahiro ; Shibamoto, Yasuteru 

The fifth international benchmark exercise (IBE-5), the cold-leg mixing CFD benchmark, was conducted under the support of OECD/NEA. The experiment for IBE-5 was designed to visualize the mixing phenomena of two liquids with different density in a horizontal leg (as a simulant of the cold-leg) and downcomer. This paper shows our CFD result on the open test condition in IBE-5. We selected the Large-eddy simulation (LES) solving the filtered equation of flow and concentration fields. Regarding the eddy-viscosity to model the turbulence flux of the momentum at sub-grid scale (SGS), Wall-adapting locale eddy-viscosity (WALE) model, a modified version from the Smagorinsky model, was applied. The experimental geometry was resolved with three different numerical mesh systems. The CFD analysis predicted the laminar-like flow behavior in the horizontal leg. Due to the large density difference between the two liquids, the turbulence production was suppressed strongly, and the velocity fluctuation in the horizontal leg became very slow and small. In contrast, the strong turbulence mixing in the downcomer was predicted. The plume from the horizontal leg entrained with the surroundings and spread circumferentially in the downcomer. The comparison with the TAMU experimental data reveals the good performance of the WALE model. In addition, we discuss the appearance characteristics of the high concentration of the heavy liquid in the downcomer in the LES. The Probability Density Function (PDF) and Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) are derived based on the predicted time-series of the heavy liquid concentration. The PDF around the mean concentration in the case with the low mesh resolution is larger than that predicted by the higher resolution due to the excessive homogenization of the heavy fluid concentration. This study reveals the importance to note the required mesh resolution to predict the appearance event of the high concentration.