Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code
Heat-pipe-cooled microreactors (HPRs) have advantages such as a compact design, easy transportation, and improved system reliability and stability. The core of an HPR consists of fuel rods and heat pipes in a monolith, which is a solid block structure containing many holes for the fuel rods and heat...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Energy Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2023.1213000/full |
| _version_ | 1797810980554539008 |
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| author | Myung Jin Jeong Jaeuk Im San Lee Hyoung Kyu Cho |
| author_facet | Myung Jin Jeong Jaeuk Im San Lee Hyoung Kyu Cho |
| author_sort | Myung Jin Jeong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Heat-pipe-cooled microreactors (HPRs) have advantages such as a compact design, easy transportation, and improved system reliability and stability. The core of an HPR consists of fuel rods and heat pipes in a monolith, which is a solid block structure containing many holes for the fuel rods and heat pipes. When designing the core of an HPR, high thermal stress and reactivity feedback owing to thermal expansion are important considerations. Therefore, a high-fidelity multiphysics analysis tool is required for accurately analyzing an HPR core. When performing a multiphysics analysis, it is necessary to couple the heat pipe thermal analysis code, thermal-structural analysis code, and neutronics code. To develop a multiphysics analysis tool, OpenFOAM, an open source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool, and ANLHTP, a heat pipe thermal analysis code, were coupled. In this process, the structural analysis solver of OpenFOAM was verified, and its limitations were improved. To confirm the proper working of the code, the mini-core problem was analyzed using the OpenFOAM-ANLHTP coupled code. Next, to consider the reactivity feedback, coupling with PRAGMA, a GPU-based continuous-energy-Monte Carlo neutronics code was performed, and the multiphysics analysis capability of the OpenFOAM-ANLHTP-PRAGMA coupled code was confirmed through an analysis of the MegaPower reactor core. To reduce the temperature distribution within the monolith, the temperature distribution of the heat pipe sink was adjusted, and the reduced thermal stress of an HPR core was observed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:16:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3bf79495886b49cc959fca632b29e8f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-598X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:16:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Energy Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-3bf79495886b49cc959fca632b29e8f82023-06-05T04:51:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Energy Research2296-598X2023-06-011110.3389/fenrg.2023.12130001213000Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe codeMyung Jin JeongJaeuk ImSan LeeHyoung Kyu ChoHeat-pipe-cooled microreactors (HPRs) have advantages such as a compact design, easy transportation, and improved system reliability and stability. The core of an HPR consists of fuel rods and heat pipes in a monolith, which is a solid block structure containing many holes for the fuel rods and heat pipes. When designing the core of an HPR, high thermal stress and reactivity feedback owing to thermal expansion are important considerations. Therefore, a high-fidelity multiphysics analysis tool is required for accurately analyzing an HPR core. When performing a multiphysics analysis, it is necessary to couple the heat pipe thermal analysis code, thermal-structural analysis code, and neutronics code. To develop a multiphysics analysis tool, OpenFOAM, an open source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool, and ANLHTP, a heat pipe thermal analysis code, were coupled. In this process, the structural analysis solver of OpenFOAM was verified, and its limitations were improved. To confirm the proper working of the code, the mini-core problem was analyzed using the OpenFOAM-ANLHTP coupled code. Next, to consider the reactivity feedback, coupling with PRAGMA, a GPU-based continuous-energy-Monte Carlo neutronics code was performed, and the multiphysics analysis capability of the OpenFOAM-ANLHTP-PRAGMA coupled code was confirmed through an analysis of the MegaPower reactor core. To reduce the temperature distribution within the monolith, the temperature distribution of the heat pipe sink was adjusted, and the reduced thermal stress of an HPR core was observed.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2023.1213000/fullmicroreactorheat pipemultiphysics analysisthermal stressOpenFOAMPRAGMA |
| spellingShingle | Myung Jin Jeong Jaeuk Im San Lee Hyoung Kyu Cho Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code Frontiers in Energy Research microreactor heat pipe multiphysics analysis thermal stress OpenFOAM PRAGMA |
| title | Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code |
| title_full | Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code |
| title_fullStr | Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code |
| title_short | Multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using OpenFOAM coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code |
| title_sort | multiphysics analysis of heat pipe cooled microreactor core with adjusted heat sink temperature for thermal stress reduction using openfoam coupled with neutronics and heat pipe code |
| topic | microreactor heat pipe multiphysics analysis thermal stress OpenFOAM PRAGMA |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2023.1213000/full |
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