https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202430203003
Nucleate boiling within a fuel assembly affected by CRUD
1 Laboratory for Waste Management, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
2 Laboratory for Simulation and Modelling, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
3 Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland
* Corresponding author: athanasios.mokos@psi.ch
Published online: 15 October 2024
Power output of nuclear reactor and heat exchange between fuel assembly and the coolant can be severely affected by the presence of CRUD on the cladding of the fuel assembly. To understand the flow and nucleation boiling processes in the presence of CRUD, a Lattice Boltzmann model for the thermal 3D multiphase flow was developed and implemented in a high-performance multi-GPU-parallel code. The model is applied to procedurally generated CRUD-like structures and the emergence of bubbles due to superheat is investigated. The simulations predict a shorter evaporation time within chimney-like structures as well as the emergence of bubbles at the top layer of the CRUD.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2024
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
