Analysis of flows around a BWR spacer by the two-fluid particle interaction method

Abstract

The Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method, a particle interaction method developed in recent years, is formulated by representing the differential operators in Navier-Stokes equations as the interaction between particles characterized with a kernel function and adopts a mesh-free algorithm. The MPS method is particularly suitable for treating liquid breakup. We extended the MPS method to a two-fluid system, introduced a potential-type surface tension, and developed a kernel function for the interface between liquid and gas to simulate two-phase flows. This extended MPS method, which we call Two-Fluid MPS (TF-MPS) method, has been verified through a number of analyses of two-phase flow experiments. The objectives of this study are to verify the applicability of TF-MPS method to a flow around a BWR spacer and to make up constitutive correlations for macroscopic methods. In this paper, we describe the formulation and the calculation algorithm of TF-MPS method, and present the results of the verification studies.