Estimation of anisotropic factor and turbulent mixing rate in rod bundles based on the flow pulsation phenomenon

Abstract

The anisotropic turbulent diffusion and the turbulent mixing phenomena in rod bundle flow fields are studied. The former is a distinguishing feature of the flow through rod bundles, and the latter is essential to the subchannel thermal-hydraulic analysis. On the basis of the flow pulsation, which is suggested as a main process of turbulent mixing, scale relations for principal parameters such as the anisotropic factor and mixing rate are derived. To obtain a scale relation for the anisotropic factor, eddy viscosities are classified into isotropic and flow pulsation parts. Scales of each part are estimated using the scale analysis method. For the purpose of determining the length and velocity scales of the pulsating flow, a hypothetical circulating flow with a period corresponding to the frequency of the pulsation is assumed. The scale relation is compared with the experimental data and shows good agreement both with respect to trend and magnitude for various geometries. Thus, it is concluded that the flow pulsation is a significant contributor to the strong anisotropy in the rod bundle flow field. Also, the mixing rate is predicted by estimating the effective mixing velocity. The estimated mixing rate is transformed into well-known dimensionless numbers, which are compared with the experimental data and with correlations to verify the predictability.