.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
Return
Subcooled boiling and flow characteristics in 17 × 17 fuel assembly through subchannel analysis method
.png){kind=icon}
PRE
AI
K
P
Y
B
M
J
DOI：10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.112258.png)
.png){kind=icon}
Original request for help.png){kind=icon}
Share.png){kind=icon}
Save
Abstract
En 中文
Subcooled boiling in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) exacerbates fuel rod corrosion and grid-to-rod fretting wear, while existing predictive methods remain limited in both fidelity and computational efficiency for assembly-scale thermal-hydraulic parameters. This study presents ATHAS-H, a subchannel code that couples a composite refined subchannel model with a mixing vane distributed resistance model. The code was validated against the OECD/NEA PSBT steady-state single-subchannel benchmark, the Combustion Engineering 5 × 5 rod bundle experiment, crossflow particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements, and the PSBT bundle void distribution benchmark. Across these cases, the code accurately captures both the boiling behavior and the alternating diagonal crossflow pattern induced by spacer grid with mixing vanes (MVG). Application to a full-length 17 × 17 EPR fuel assembly shows that alternating diagonal crossflow induced by MVGs breaks the fourfold symmetry of traditional subchannel predictions and yields centrosymmetric radial thermal-hydraulic distributions. ATHAS-H predicts a maximum void fraction of 0.011 and a peak steaming rate 11.2% higher than that from the traditional model. The MVGs also shift both the location of peak coolant temperature and the peak steaming rate location away from the highest-power rod. These results provide a refined mechanistic description of assembly-scale boiling and flow redistribution and provide high-fidelity boundary conditions for grid-to-rod fretting and corrosion analyses.
Keywords:
Fuel assembly
Subcooled boiling
Subchannel code
MVG
Journal
IF:
6.4
Papers:
1.0W
Citations:
2.5W
Organization
No organization information available
Cited Papers