Assessment of the eulerian two-fluid model for disperse and sharp interface flow simulation with application in steam generators

DARIO GODINO; DAMIAN RAMAJO; SANTIAGO CORZO; NIGRO, NORBERTO

Santos

Congreso; INAC 2019 - International Nuclear Atlantic Conference; 2019

Brazilian Nuclear Energy Association

In nuclear industry the multiphase flow plays a preponderant role, and their understanding is of great importance to safety analysis simulation. Up to now the computational tools for modelling nuclear installations has been exclusive based on system codes, which allow solving the thermal-hydraulic, the neutronic, and the plant safety and control systems involved. Despite the potentially of these codes, they are limited to give macroscopic descriptionsof the phenomena using empirical correlations to describe complex flows. On the other hand, the use of fully detailed 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation in multiphase flow have to be accurately assessed for sensible applications such as nuclear safety. This work is focused on studying the multiphase flow through the Eulerian two-fluid model. The platform is usedto perform transient simulations solving three experimental benchmarks regarding to dispersed flow in a bubble column, two-phase flow around an asymmetric baffle in a vertical tube, and countercurrent horizontal flow. These flow regime are largely found in steam generators of nuclear power plants. Special effort was made to study the effect of the different interfacial force models for drag, lift, turbulent dispersion, and virtual mass. That allow choosing the best set of models to solve the three benchmarks.