Numerical analysis of temperature stratification in the CIRCE pool facility

Abstract

In the framework of Heavy Liquid Metal (HLM) GEN IV Nuclear reactor development, the focus is in the combination of security and performance. Numerical simulations with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) or system codes are useful tools to predict the main steady-state phenomena and how transitional accidents could unfold in GEN IV reactors. In this paper, to support the validation of CFD as a valid tool for the design, the capability of ANSYS CFX 15 to simulate and reproduce mixed natural convection and thermal stratification phenomena inside a pool is investigated. The 3D numerical model is based on the CIRCE facility, located in CR ENEA Brasimone. It is a pool facility, structured with all the components necessary to simulate the behavior of an HLM reactor, where LBE flows into the primary circuit. For the analysis, the LBE physical properties are implemented in CFX by using recent NEA equations [2]. Previously published RELAP5-3D