Numerical Solution of Governing Thermal-Hydraulic Equations in the Core of PBMR Using the Porous Media Model

Numerical solution of governing thermal-hydraulic equations in the core of a pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) is investigated using the porous media approach. By considering that there is a high temperature helium gas in the core, the NJOY code is used to generate cross sections at these temperatures. Then, the heat flux in the core is obtained in the axial and radial directions by the MCNP code and is consequently used in the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation as a semi- sine and an algebraic function. The major characteristics of the flow field have been identified, whereby the thermal–hydraulic parameters such as temperature and pressure profiles have been specified and compared with the other available data. The results of the MCNP4C and CFX.12 in comparison with the other codes confirmed the present calculation to be used in this type of reactor. Other results that obtained with the use other codes and softwares prove that the inclusion of the compressibility is quite reasonable, where it leads to a slight difference between the measured temperature, pressure and velocity and the actual ones, where it enables us to improve the Darcy-Weisbach equation in this type of reactor.