CFD Simulations of a Turbulent Flow in a T-Junction

Abstract

Very careful T-junction tests are being performed at the Vattenfall Älkarleby Laboratory. Data from a recent test were used as the basis of an OECD/NEA blind benchmark exercise. JNES participated in this blind benchmark exercise. The present T-junction CFD simulation was performed as an incompressible fluid flow and buoyant effect was estimated by using the Boussinesq approximation. Four hexahedral grids (0.25M, 1M, 4M and 16M) were generated for grid size sensitivity study. The Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) turbulent models were used for a model sensitivity study. All calculation results of LES were closer to the experimental data than those of RANS.