Performance Assessment of Turbulence Models for the Prediction of Moderator Thermal Flow Inside CANDU Calandria

The moderator thermal flow in the CANDU calandria is generally complex and highly turbulent because of the interaction of the buoyancy force with the inlet jet inertia. In this study, the prediction performance of turbulence models for the accurate analysis of the moderator thermal flow are assessed by comparing the results calculated with various types of turbulence models in the commercial flow solver FLUENT with experimental data for the test vessel at Sheridan Park Engineering Laboratory (SPEL). Through this comparative study of turbulence models, it is concluded that turbulence models that include the source term to consider the effects of buoyancy on the turbulent flow should be used for the reliable prediction of the moderator thermal flow inside the CANDU calandria.