An Algebraic Heat Flux Model in STAR-CCM+ for Application to Innovative Reactors

Abstract

As part of the THINS (Thermal-Hydraulics of Innovative Nuclear Systems) project, which is sponsored by the European Commission from 2010 to 2014, CD-adapco has implemented in the commercially available software STAR-CCM+ an Algebraic Heat Flux Model (AHFM). The model adopts an expression for the turbulent heat flux which is derived from the full differential transport model on the base of a local equilibrium assumption. While considerably simpler than the full differential closure this formulation retains the basic terms from the differential transport equations representing the physical mechanisms which generate the turbulent heat flux. This approach has shown a great potential, and will be object of evaluation and improvements for application to innovative reactors.