Session: 7.7.2 - Numerical Methods for Multiphase Flows II

Paper Number: 170246

170246 - A Novel Multiphase Solver for Nuclear Applications 

Abstract: 

In the nuclear field, fission gas products, such as Xenon, are produced in molten-salt reactors (MSR) directly through interactions of neutrons radiating from the fission reactions with components of the molten salt or by decay of other fission products. The formation and presence of these products can be detrimental to fuel utilization, heat transfer effectiveness, and load-following capability in MSRs. Hence, removal of such products from the MSR system is of utmost importance. This is primarily achieved by sparging the bulk liquid with inert gases like Helium. The Helium bubbles attract the fission products due to the low concentration of the products in the Helium bubbles themselves. There are a range of factors which affect removal of Xenon through sparging. However, the exact mechanism of mass transfer between the fission products and the sparge gas is poorly understood. This is mainly due to the lack of accurate high-fidelity models which can capture sharp interfaces of the relevant bubbles of different sizes and account for surface tension and mass transfer effects. Thus, high-fidelity multiphase flow solvers which can accurately track bubble interfaces, their interactions, and the mass transfer between multiple species are essential. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we are developing a novel multiphase volume of fluid approach to tackle these issues. This novel model is solved using the high-fidelity implicit continuous Galerkin method. The model uses the Flux-Corrected Transport family of schemes to treat the convective flux of the phase variable. To stabilize the solution, an entropy-viscosity method is incorporated into the model. In this talk, initial tests, effect of surface tension, and preliminary results are going to be presented.

Presenting Author: Filipe Brandao Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Presenting Author Biography: