Numerical Investigation on the Hydraulic Loss Correlation of Ring-type Spacer Grids

Abstract

An accurate prediction of the pressure drop along the flow paths is crucial in the design of advanced passive systems cooled by heavy liquid metal coolants. To date, a generic pressure drop correlation over spacer grids by Rehme has been applied extensively, which was obtained from substantial experimental data with multiple types of components. However, a few experimental studies have reported that the correlation may give large discrepancies. To provide a more reliable correlation for ring-type spacer grids, the current numerical study aims at figuring out the most critical factor among four hypothetical parameters, namely the flow area blockage ratio, number of fuel rods, type of fluid, and thickness of the spacer grid in the flow direction. Through a set of computational fluid dynamics simulations, we observed that the flow area blockage ratio dominantly influences the pressure loss characteristics, and thus its dependence should be more emphasized, whereas the other parameters have little impact. Hence, we suggest a new correlation for the drag coefficient as C B = C v,m / ε 2.7 , where C v,m is formulated by a nonlinear fit of simulation data such that C v,m = –11.33 ln(0.02 ln(Re b )).