Numerical Simulation of Countercurrent Gas-Liquid Flow in a PWR Hot Leg Using VOF Method

Abstract

In order to evaluate flow patterns and CCFL (countercurrent flow limitation) characteristics in a PWR hot leg under reflux condensation, numerical simulations have been done using a two-fluid model and a VOF (volume of fluid) method implemented in the CFD software, FLUENT6.3.26. The two-fluid model gave good agreement with CCFL data under low pressure conditions but did not give good results under high pressure steam-water conditions. On the other hand, the VOF method gave good agreement with CCFL data for tests with a rectangular channel but did not give good results for calculations in a circular channel. Therefore, in this paper, the computational grid and schemes were changed in the VOF method, numerical simulations were done for steam-water flows at 1.5 MPa under PWR full-scale conditions with the inner diameter of 0.75 m, and the calculated results were compared with the UPTF data at 1.5 MPa. As a result, the calculated flow pattern was found to be similar to the flow pattern observed in small-scale air-water tests, and the calculated CCFL characteristics agreed well with the UPTF data at 1.5 MPa except in the region of a large steam volumetric flux.