CFD analysis of a turbulent jet behavior induced by a steam jet discharge through a single hole in a subcooled water tank

Abstract

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for a turbulent jet flow induced by a steam jet discharged into a subcooled water pool was performed for 10 s of transients to investigate whether the currently available CFD codes can be suitably used as a tool to investigate the applicability of the existing semi-analytical correlations to a condensing jet-induced turbulent jet and to analyze the thermal-hydraulic behavior, such as global circulation and local hot spot, in a condensation pool for advanced light water reactors. As for the numerical experiment, a series of sensitivity calculations was conducted systematically to elucidate the major factors which can cause different analysis results by varying the mesh distributions, numerical models for a convection term and an eddy viscosity term. The effect of a difference in the velocity and the temperature distribution in a region between the sparger and the pool wall has not been observed in the afore-mentioned sensitivity calculations. The comparison of the CFD results with the test data shows that the CFD analysis does not accurately simulate the local phenomenon of a turbulent jet existing downstream of a steam jet. It was found that the value of the turbulent intensity at the inlet of the turbulent jet region is the most important factor because it can determine the boundary of a turbulent jet through a momentum diffusion process in a radial direction. The comparison of the CFD results with the test data shows that the CFD analysis can accurately simulate the local phenomenon of a turbulent jet existing downstream of a steam jet only when the CFD analysis reflects the physics of a turbulent jet.