FIRST STEPS TO COUPLED HYDRAULIC AND MECHANICAL CALCULATIONS WITHIN A PARAMETER STUDY TO DEFINE POSSIBLE CORE DESIGNS FOR THE CONVERSION OF FRM II

Abstract

The Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Meier-Leibnitz (FRM II) is actively participating in the worldwide efforts on developing high-density uranium fuels in order to reduce the enrichment of fuels used in high flux research reactors. This work is part of a parameter study to define possible compatible FRM II core designs for conversion. As a first step, a code-to-code verification is performed and experimental data is used for validation. The Gambill experiment was performed in the early 1960’s in support of the HFIR program and provides results regarding the heat transfer coefficient and friction factors of water flowing through an electrically heated thin rectangular channel. A comparison is made between the Gambill Test and the results simulated by Ansys CFX and STAR-CCM+.

Keywords

• research reactor
• code validation
• conversion