Mesh Sensitivity Analysis of Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulations of a CANDU 37M Fuel Bundle

Abstract

A mesh sensitivity analysis has been performed on several Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with Hydra of a single CANadian Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) 37M nuclear fuel bundle placed within a standard pressure tube. Four meshes were generated with ANSYS ranging from 22 million to 84 million cells and analysed in this work. The boundary conditions and material properties are representative of normal operation in a high-powered channel of the Darlington nuclear generating station. The predicted velocity profiles and predicted turbulence kinetic energy profiles obtained from each mesh were compared at different regions to determine the most appropriate mesh resolution for this problem. The intent of this work was to gain confidence in mesh generation of a single bundle prior to investigating an entire fuel channel with 12 bundles.