Abstract
A direct numerical simulation (DNS) study was performed on turbulent flow in the high flux isotope reactor involute channel geometry to develop a numerical database and determine the differences compared with a flat parallel channel. The varying channel curvature along the walls was studied for differences in mean profiles. Parameters of interest include streamwise velocity, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), and turbulence dissipation rate, as well as Reynolds stresses and turbulence transport terms. Profile sampling was carried out at 10 locations along the span of the involute. Additional DNS studies were performed on smaller domains of comparable curvature to the involute domain: a high curvature channel (high circular), a low curvature channel (low circular), and a flat channel (flat). Each of these four cases was compared against each other and to other DNS studies performed on parallel flows. The results indicate that the bulk involute channel flow does not differ significantly from a flat parallel channel flow and that the curvature of the walls does not significantly alter the mean flow parameters. However, the regions of the involute channel near the side walls exhibit relatively low magnitude twin recirculation structures driven toward the side walls from the centerline of the channel, which warrants further study.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 081301 |
| Journal | Journal of Fluids Engineering, Transactions of the ASME |
| Volume | 146 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2024 |
Funding
Computing resources at the NERSC (the primary scientific computing facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science) were used to perform the computations. More than 4.5 106 CPU hours were granted to the project for 2021, and 25 106 core hours were provisioned in 2022. An additional allocation of 224,000 node hours (equivalent to 14 106 core hours) at the ALCF was awarded to the project in 2022. Without this high-performance computing power, this work could not be accomplished. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan2. National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Material Management and Minimization, U.S. Department of Energy (UT-Battelle LLC) (Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725; Funder ID: 10.13039/100006168).