Numerical analysis of natural convective heat transfer with porous medium using JUPITER

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yamashita, Susumu; Sano, Yoshihiko*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(6), p.523 - 541, 2025/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2025.2451023

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has developed a numerical method with the JUPITER code with a porous medium model to calculate the thermal behavior in PCVs of 1F. In this study, we performed an experiment and numerical simulation of the natural convective heat transfer with the porous medium to validate JUPITER with the porous medium model. In comparison of the temperature and velocity distributions between the experiment and simulation, the temperature distribution in the simulation was in good agreement with the distribution in the experiment except the temperature near the top surface of the porous medium. The velocity distribution also agreed qualitatively with the experimental result. In addition, we also performed the numerical simulations with various effective thermal conductivity models to discuss the effect of the conductivity based on the internal structure of porous media on the natural convective heat transfer. The result indicated that the temperature distribution in the porous medium and the velocity distribution of the natural convection were significantly different for each model, and thus the conductivity of the fuel debris was one of the key parameters of in the thermal behavior analysis in 1F.

Numerical investigation of accuracy of conductance-typed wire-mesh sensor using CFD and electrostatic simulations

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Ono, Ayako; Yamashita, Susumu; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 13th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS13) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2024/11

A conductance-typed wire-mesh sensor (WMS), utilizing the difference in conductivity between gas and liquid phases between the electrodes, is one of the practical measurement techniques of a cross-sectional void fraction distribution in a flow path. In this study, we performed two-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and electrostatic simulations around a WMS for a single spherical bubble and bubbly flow to clarify the systematic error in the WMS. The results for the single bubble indicated that there were systematic errors based on the non-uniform current density distribution around the WMS. The correlation between instantaneous void fractions and WMS signals is not uniquely determined for positions of the single bubble moving across the WMS, even for the same bubble. Moreover, the correlation between the instantaneous void fractions and the WMS signals did not fit in a linear approximation and Maxwell's equation, which traditionally used transformation methods from the WMS signal to the void fraction. The results for the bubbly flow indicated that the WMS had difficulty in quantitative measurements of the instantaneous void fraction because the values had a significant deviation of the void fraction of approximately 0.2. On the other hand, time-averaged void fraction values had relatively small deviation. Thus, we concluded that the WMS, using existing transformation methods, can measure time-averaged void fractions, but it is difficult to measure quantitatively instantaneous void fractions.

Evaluation of interface capturing schemes of VOF method through application to bubble flows with single orifice

Fukuda, Takanari; Yamashita, Susumu; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics, Operation, and Safety (NTHOS-14) (Internet), 12 Pages, 2024/08

The VOF method is a type of CFDs that is most widely applied to multiphase flow analysis involving advective interfaces, and several interface-capturing schemes have been developed for an accurate advection of VOF values. However, the performance of these schemes has typically been evaluated only for limited numerical problems where velocity fields are spatially orderly and fixed in time. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate the performance of these schemes for more realistic and complex conditions, such as gas-liquid two-phase flows in nuclear reactors. Therefore, in this study, three-dimensional analysis of bubble flows has been conducted using the interface-capturing schemes of THINC and THINC/WLIC, which have been developed relatively recently. Evaluation is performed using more engineering indicators such as the number, volume, and trajectory of bubbles, which can influence the void fraction distribution in reactor cores. The results of these comparisons showed that the VOF value could be significantly diffused, leading to numerical brake-up and dissipation of the bubbles, with the influence of interface-capturing scheme.

Benchmark simulation code for the thermal-hydraulics design tool of the accelerator-driven system; Validation and benchmark simulation of flow behavior around the beam window

Yamashita, Susumu; Kondo, Nao; Sugawara, Takanori; Monji, Hideaki*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(6), p.740 - 761, 2024/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2268676

To confirm the validity of the thermal-hydraulics design tool based on the Ansys Fluent, we used a detailed computational fluid dynamics code named JAEA Utility Program for Interdisciplinary Thermal-hydraulics Engineering and Research (JUPITER) for the thermal-hydraulics around the beam window (BW) of the Accelerator-Driven System (ADS). The Fluent uses the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model and can quickly calculate the turbulent flow around the BW as a BW design tool. At first, we compared the results of JUPITER with the experimental results using a mock-up BW system in water to confirm the validity of JUPITER. As a result, we confirmed that numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results. Thus, we showed that JUPITER could be used as a benchmark code. We also performed a benchmark simulation for the Fluent calculation using validated JUPITER to show the applicability of JUPITER as an alternative of experiments. As a result, the mean values around the BW agreed with each other, e.g., the mean velocity profile for stream and horizontal directions. Therefore, we confirmed that JUPITER showed a good performance in validating the thermal-hydraulics design tool as a fluid dynamics solver. Moreover, Fluent has enough accuracy as a thermal-hydraulics design tool for the ADS.

Effectiveness of fused LASSO for prediction of distribution of radioactive materials in reactor buildings

Yamada, Susumu; Yoshida, Toru*; Hasegawa, Yukihiro*; Machida, Masahiko

Proceedings of Waste Management Symposia 2024 (WM2024) (Internet), 15 Pages, 2024/03

In order to safely carry out the decommission of reactor buildings, it is extremely important to identify the radiation source distribution. It has been reported that when the structural model of the building is constructed by uniform cells, the source distribution can be estimated from the measured air dose rates by minimizing an evaluation function using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). Moreover, if cells are non-uniform, we can estimate the distribution using the fused LASSO which minimizes the evaluation function that takes account of the connectivity between the adjacent cells. However, when a group of some cells is considered disconnected from the surrounding ones due to the precision of the measured structural data, the concentration of the group can be singularly high. Therefore, in order to avoid the problem, we propose a new evaluation function that can prevent the singularity. We estimated the distribution for the test model using the proposed evaluation function and confirmed the validity of the function. Moreover, we succeeded in estimating the source distribution in the pool canal circulation system room in JMTR in the Japan Atomic Energy Agency by the fused LASSO for the new function more accurately than previous analysis.

Numerical simulation method using a Cartesian grid for oxidation of core materials under steam-starved conditions

Yamashita, Susumu; Sato, Takumi; Nagae, Yuji; Kurata, Masaki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(9), p.1029 - 1045, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2162996

Development of a numerical simulation method for air cooling of fuel debris by JUPITER

Yamashita, Susumu; Uesawa, Shinichiro; Ono, Ayako; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 10(4), p.22-00485_1 - 22-00485_25, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.22-00485

A detailed evaluation for air cooling of fuel debris in actual reactors will be essential in fuel debris retrieval under dry conditions. To understand the heat transfer in and around fuel debris, which is assumed as a porous medium in the primary containment vessel (PCV) mechanistically, we newly applied the porous medium model to the multiphase and multicomponent computational fluid dynamics code named JUPITER (JAEA Utility Program for Interdisciplinary Thermal-hydraulics Engineering and Research). We applied the Darcy-Brinkman model as for the porous medium model. This model has high compatibility with JUPITER because it can treat both a pure fluid and a porous medium phase simultaneously in the same manner as the one-fluid model in multiphase flow simulation. We addressed the case of natural convection with a high-velocity flow standing out nonlinear effects by implementing the Forchheimer model, including the term of the square of the velocity as a nonlinear effect to the momentum transport equation of JUPITER. We performed some simple verification and validation simulations, such as the natural convection simulation in a square cavity and the natural convective heat transfer experiment with the porous medium, to confirm the validity of the implemented model. We confirmed that the result of JUPITER agreed well with these simulations and experiments. In addition, as an application of the updated JUPITER, we performed the preliminary simulation of air cooling of fuel debris in the condition of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station unit 2 including the actual core materials. As a result, JUPITER calculated the temperature and velocity field stably in and around the fuel debris inside the PCV. Therefore, JUPITER has the potential to estimate the detailed and accurate thermal-hydraulics behaviors of fuel debris.

Inverse estimation scheme of radioactive source distributions inside building rooms based on monitoring air dose rates using LASSO; Theory and demonstration

Shi, W.*; Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Yoshida, Toru*; Hasegawa, Yukihiro*; Okamoto, Koji*

Progress in Nuclear Energy, 162, p.104792_1 - 104792_19, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2023.104792

Predicting radioactive source distributions inside reactor building rooms based on monitoring air dose rates is one of the most essential steps towards decommissioning of nuclear power plants. However, the attempt is rather a difficult task, because it can be generally mapped onto mathematically ill-posed problem. Then, in order to successfully perform the inverse estimations on radioactive source distributions even in such ill-posed conditions, we suggest that a machine learning method, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) minimizing the loss function, is a promising scheme. For the purpose of its feasibility demonstrations in real building rooms, we employ PHITS code to make LASSO input as the above matrix C connecting the radioactive source vector P defined on surface meshes of structural materials with the air dose rate vector Q measured at internal positions inside the rooms. We develop a mathematical criterion on the number of monitoring points to correctly predict source distributions based on the theory of Candes and Tao. Then, we confirm that LASSO actually shows extremely high possibility for source distribution reconstructions as far as the number of detection points satisfies our criterion. Moreover, we verify that radioactive hot spots can be truly reconstructed in an experiment setup. At last, we examine an influence factor like detector-source distance to enhance the predicting possibility in the inverse estimation. From the above demonstrations, we propose that LASSO scheme is a quite useful way to explore hot spots as seen in damaged nuclear power plants like Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants.

Development of numerical simulation method of natural convection around heated porous medium by using JUPITER

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yamashita, Susumu; Shibata, Mitsuhiko; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2023/05

For contaminated water management in decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations, reduction in water injection, intermittent injection water and air cooling are considered. However, since there are uncertainties of fuel debris in the PCV, it is necessary to examine and evaluate optimal cooling methods according to the distribution state of the fuel debris and the progress of the fuel debris retrieval work in advance. We have developed a method for estimating the thermal behavior in the air cooling, including the influence of the position, heat generation and the porosity of fuel debris. Since a large-scale thermal-hydraulics analysis of natural convection is necessary for the method, JUPITER developed independently by JAEA is used. It is however difficult to perform the large-scale thermal-hydraulics analysis with JUPITER by modeling the internal structure of the debris which may consist of a porous medium. Therefore, it is possible to analyze the heat transfer of the porous medium by adding porous models to JUPITER. In this study, we report the validation of JUPITER applied the porous model and discuss which heat transfer models are most effective in porous models such as series, parallel and geometric mean models. To obtain validation data of JUPITER for the natural convective heat transfer analysis around the porous medium, we performed the heat transfer and the flow visualization experiments of the natural convection in the experimental system including the porous medium. In the comparison between the experiment and the numerical analysis with each model, the numerical result with the geometric mean model was the closest of the models to the experimental results. However, the numerical results of the temperature and the velocity were overestimated for those experimental results. In particular, the temperature near the interface between the porous medium and air was more overestimated.

LASSO reconstruction scheme to predict radioactive source distributions inside reactor building rooms; Theory & demonstration

Shi, W.*; Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Yoshida, Toru*; Hasegawa, Yukihiro*; Okamoto, Koji*

Proceedings of Waste Management Symposia 2023 (WM2023) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2023/02