Comparison of HFIR Core Hydraulic Models with Operational Data
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HFIR↗
Engineering topics
Jain, Prashant K
Publications and source records attributed to Jain, Prashant K.
Advanced Multiphysics Thermal-Hydraulics Models for the High Flux Isotope Reactor
Engineering design studies to determine the feasibility of converting the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) from using highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel are ongoing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This work is part of an effort sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Conversion Program. HFIR is a very high flux pressurized light-water-cooled and moderated flux-trap type research reactor. HFIR s current missions are to support neutron scattering experiments, isotope production, and materials irradiation, including neutron activation analysis. Advanced three-dimensional multiphysics models of HFIR fuel were developed in COMSOL software for safety basis (worst case) operating conditions. Several types of physics including multilayer heat conduction, conjugate heat transfer, turbulent flows (RANS model) and structural mechanics were combined and solved for HFIR s inner and outer fuel elements. Alternate design features of the new LEU fuel were evaluated using these multiphysics models. This work led to a new, preliminary reference LEU design that combines a permanent absorber in the lower unfueled region of all of the fuel plates, a burnable absorber in the inner element side plates, and a relocated and reshaped (but still radially contoured) fuel zone. Preliminary results of estimated thermal safety margins are presented. Fuel design studies and model enhancement continue.
COMSOL↗
Application of COMSOL Pipe Flow Module to Develop a High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) System Loop Model
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Wang, Dean↗
Steady State COMSOL Thermal-Hydraulics Models for ORNL s High Flux Isotope Reactor
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Khane, Vaibhav B↗
Study of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 4 Spent Fuel Pool
No abstract prepared.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Design and Nuclear-Safety Related Simulations of Bare-Pellet Test Irradiations for the Production of Pu-238 in the High Flux Isotope Reactor using COMSOL
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)is developing technology to produce plutonium-238 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a power source material for powering vehicles while in deep-space[1]. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) of ORNL has been utilized to perform test irradiations of incapsulated neptunium oxide (NpO2) and aluminum powder bare pellets for purposes of understanding the performance of the pellets during irradiation[2]. Post irradiation examinations (PIE) are currently underway to assess the effect of temperature, thermal expansion, swelling due to gas production, fission products, and other phenomena
COMSOL↗
Development of CFD models to support LEU Conversion of ORNL s High Flux Isotope Reactor
The US Department of Energy s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is participating in the Global Threat Reduction Initiative to reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian sites worldwide. As an integral part of one of NNSA s subprograms, Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors, HFIR is being converted from the present HEU core to a low enriched uranium (LEU) core with less than 20% of U-235 by weight. Because of HFIR s importance for condensed matter research in the United States, its conversion to a high-density, U-Mo-based, LEU fuel should not significantly impact its existing performance. Furthermore, cost and availability considerations suggest making only minimal changes to the overall HFIR facility. Therefore, the goal of this conversion program is only to substitute LEU for the fuel type in the existing fuel plate design, retaining the same number of fuel plates, with the same physical dimensions, as in the current HFIR HEU core. Because LEU-specific testing and experiments will be limited, COMSOL Multiphysics was chosen to provide the needed simulation capability to validate against the HEU design data and previous calculations, and predict the performance of the proposed LEU fuel for design and safety analyses. To achieve it, advanced COMSOL-based multiphysics simulations, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD), are being developed to capture the turbulent flows and associated heat transfer in fine detail and to improve predictive accuracy [2].
COMSOL↗
PRATHAM: Parallel Thermal Hydraulics Simulations using Advanced Mesoscopic Methods
At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, efforts are under way to develop a 3D, parallel LBM code called PRATHAM (PaRAllel Thermal Hydraulic simulations using Advanced Mesoscopic Methods) to demonstrate the accuracy and scalability of LBM for turbulent flow simulations in nuclear applications. The code has been developed using FORTRAN-90, and parallelized using the message passing interface MPI library. Silo library is used to compact and write the data files, and VisIt visualization software is used to post-process the simulation data in parallel. Both the single relaxation time (SRT) and multi relaxation time (MRT) LBM schemes have been implemented in PRATHAM. To capture turbulence without prohibitively increasing the grid resolution requirements, an LES approach [5] is adopted allowing large scale eddies to be numerically resolved while modeling the smaller (subgrid) eddies. In this work, a Smagorinsky model has been used, which modifies the fluid viscosity by an additional eddy viscosity depending on the magnitude of the rate-of-strain tensor. In LBM, this is achieved by locally varying the relaxation time of the fluid.
LBM↗
Extending a CAD-Based Cartesian Mesh Generator for the Lattice Boltzmann Method
This paper describes the development of a custom preprocessor for the PaRAllel Thermal Hydraulics simulations using Advanced Mesoscopic methods (PRATHAM) code based on an open-source mesh generator, CartGen [1]. PRATHAM is a three-dimensional (3D) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based parallel flow simulation software currently under development at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The LBM algorithm in PRATHAM requires a uniform, coordinate system-aligned, non-body-fitted structured mesh for its computational domain. CartGen [1], which is a GNU-licensed open source code, already comes with some of the above needed functionalities. However, it needs to be further extended to fully support the LBM specific preprocessing requirements. Therefore, CartGen is being modified to (i) be compiler independent while converting a neutral-format STL (Stereolithography) CAD geometry to a uniform structured Cartesian mesh, (ii) provide a mechanism for PRATHAM to import the mesh and identify the fluid/solid domains, and (iii) provide a mechanism to visually identify and tag the domain boundaries on which to apply different boundary conditions.
Cartesian Grid↗
COMSOL Simulations for Steady State Thermal Hydraulics Analyses of ORNL s High Flux Isotope Reactor
Simulation models for steady state thermal hydraulics analyses of Oak Ridge National Laboratory s High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) have been developed using the COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software. A single fuel plate and coolant channel of each type of HFIR fuel element was modeled in three dimensions; coupling to adjacent plates and channels was accounted for by using periodic boundary conditions. The standard k- turbulence model was used in simulating turbulent flow with conjugate heat transfer. The COMSOL models were developed to be fully parameterized to allow assessing impacts of fuel fabrication tolerances and uncertainties related to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel design and reactor operating parameters. Heat source input for the simulations was obtained from separate Monte Carlo N Particle calculations for the axially non-contoured LEU fuel designs at the beginning of the reactor cycle. Mesh refinement studies have been performed to calibrate the models against the pressure drop measured across the HFIR core.
CFD↗
Size Dependence of a Temperature-Induced Solid-Solid Phase Transition in Copper(I) Sulfide
Determination of the phase diagrams for the nanocrystalline forms of materials is crucial for our understanding of nanostructures and the design of functional materials using nanoscale building blocks. The ability to study such transformations in nanomaterials with controlled shape offers further insight into transition mechanisms and the influence of particular facets. Here we present an investigation of the size-dependent, temperature-induced solid-solid phase transition in copper sulfide nanorods from low- to high-chalcocite. We find the transition temperature to be substantially reduced, with the high chalcocite phase appearing in the smallest nanocrystals at temperatures so low that they are typical of photovoltaic operation. Size dependence in phase trans- formations suggests the possibility of accessing morphologies that are not found in bulk solids at ambient conditions. These other- wise-inaccessible crystal phases could enable higher-performing materials in a range of applications, including sensing, switching, lighting, and photovoltaics.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
COMSOL-based Multiphysics Simulations to Support HFIR s Conversion to LEU Fuel
In this paper, development of at least one form of the COMSOL-based modeling framework for the HFIR is presented, key simulation steps are identified and several milestones achieved towards a coupled multi-physics capability are highlighted. COMSOL-based multi-physics simulation capability is able to answer the need for predictive 3D simulations of HFIR s involute plate and channels. Step-by-step development and analyses of the COMSOL models for the single and multi-channels will lead towards the desired full-core simulation capability for the HFIR. With very few experiments planned to support the conversion process, these 3D simulations will become the basis for the nuclear safety analysis of the HFIR s LEU fuel core.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Multiphysics Simulations of the Complex 3D Geometry of the High Flux Isotope Reactor Fuel Elements Using COMSOL
A research and development project is ongoing to convert the currently operating High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) from highly-enriched Uranium (HEU U3O8) fuel to low-enriched Uranium (LEU U-10Mo) fuel. Because LEU HFIR-specific testing and experiments will be limited, COMSOL is chosen to provide the needed multiphysics simulation capability to validate against the HEU design data and calculations, and predict the performance of the LEU fuel for design and safety analyses. The focus of this paper is on the unique issues associated with COMSOL modeling of the 3D geometry, meshing, and solution of the HFIR fuel plate and assembled fuel elements. Two parallel paths of 3D model development are underway. The first path follows the traditional route through examination of all flow and heat transfer details using the Low-Reynolds number k-e turbulence model provided by COMSOL v4.2. The second path simplifies the fluid channel modeling by taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge provided by decades of design and safety analyses, data from experiments and tests, and HFIR operation. By simplifying the fluid channel, a significant level of complexity and computer resource requirements are reduced, while also expanding the level and type of analysis that can be performed with COMSOL. Comparison and confirmation of validity of the first (detailed) and second (simplified) 3D modeling paths with each other, and with available data, will enable an expanded level of analysis. The detailed model will be used to analyze hot-spots and other micro fuel behavior events. The simplified model will be used to analyze events such as routine heat-up and expansion of the entire fuel element, and flow blockage. Preliminary, coarse-mesh model results of the detailed individual fuel plate are presented. Examples of the solution for an entire fuel element consisting of multiple individual fuel plates produced by the simplified model are also presented.
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
Near-Infrared Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances Arising from Free Carriers in Doped Quantum Dots
Quantum confinement of electronic wavefunctions in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) yields discrete atom-like and tunable electronic levels, thereby allowing the engineering of excitation and emission spectra. Metal nanoparticles, on the other hand, display strong resonant interactions with light from localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) oscillations of free carriers, resulting in enhanced and geometrically tunable absorption and scattering resonances. The complementary attributes of these nanostructures lends strong interest toward integration into hybrid nanostructures to explore enhanced properties or the emergence of unique attributes arising from their interaction. However, the physicochemical interface between the two components can be limiting for energy transfer and synergistic coupling within such a hybrid nanostructure. Therefore, it is advantageous to realize both attributes, i.e., LSPRs and quantum confinement within the same nanostructure. Here, we describe well-defined LSPRs arising from p-type carriers in vacancy-doped semiconductor quantum dots. This opens up possibilities for light harvesting, non-linear optics, optical sensing and manipulation of solid-state processes in single nanocrystals.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Nanoheterostructure Cation Exchange: Anionic Framework Conservation
In ionic nanocrystals the cationic sub-lattice can be replaced with a different metal ion via a fast, simple, and reversible place-exchange, allowing post-synthetic modification of the composition of the nanocrystal, while preserving its size and shape. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that during such an exchange, the anionic framework of the crystal is preserved. When applied to nanoheterostructures, this phenomenon ensures that compositional interfaces within the heterostructure are conserved throughout the transformation. For instance, a morphology composed of a CdSe nanocrystal embedded in a CdS rod (CdSe/CdS) was exchanged to a PbSe/PbS nanorod via a Cu2Se/Cu2S structure. During every exchange cycle, the seed size and position within the nanorod were preserved, as evident by excitonic features, Z-contrast imaging, and elemental line-scans. Anionic framework conservation extends the domain of cation exchange to the design of more complex and unique nanostructures.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗