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CFD investigation of flow characteristics around the core and temperature distribution in subchannel of the Bandung TRIGA reactor under steady-state condition
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DOI：10.1016/j.pnucene.2026.106497.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Safety aspects play an important role in the operation of nuclear reactors; therefore, the analytical methods used in operational activities must be well tested and reliable for predicting various reactor operating conditions. This study applies Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to analyze flow behavior and coolant temperature distribution in the Bandung TRIGA reactor core, addressing the limitations of previous thermal-hydraulic methods. The CFD results show that forced circulation from the primary cooling system affects the flow pattern around the reactor core, causing vortex flow below the core structure and influencing the heat transfer process in the coolant subchannels by providing an inlet flow velocity of 5 cm/s. For a configuration with 106 fuel elements in the reactor core, the maximum subchannel temperature remains below the saturation temperature at both the design inlet temperature (32 °C) and the maximum allowable inlet temperature (40 °C). These results confirm that the reactor operates safely and within prescribed limits. Comparative studies against experimental data at an inlet temperature of 28 °C show good agreement and improved accuracy over the previous code. These findings indicate that the CFD code can be used as an alternative tool for temperature analysis of the Bandung TRIGA research reactor. The novelty of this study lies in evaluating the influence of forced circulation induced by the primary cooling system on coolant flow behavior around the reactor core and on the inlet flow conditions into the core, as well as in providing insights to support more reliable thermal-hydraulic analysis and modeling, and the selection of appropriate subchannel heat transfer correlations.
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