Flow Modeling Solutions for the Nuclear Power Industry
For many years, nuclear power plant operators and designers have found CFD to be an important and indispensable tool for assessing accident scenarios and for profitably running safe, efficient and reliable plant processes and unit operations. As the industry is experiencing an increasing need for spent fuel storage and transport, along with development of advanced Generation III and Generation IV reactor designs, interest in CFD within the nuclear power industry has grown. The new reactors rely increasingly on passive safety systems, and the relevant physics are often not tractable using traditional system level analysis tools.
CFD simulations provide you with a wealth of valuable information on plant and unit process performance, including flow and temperature distribution, pressure drops, phase change, mass transfer, species concentrations, mixing patterns, natural convection, and wall heat fluxes. A key ingredient to CFD's value in the power generation market has been its ability to significantly reduce the time and expense involved in the design, optimization, trouble-shooting, and repair of power generation equipment. In addition, CFD modeling is a non-intrusive tool that can provide insights into fluid flow problems that would be too costly or physically prohibitive to explore by experimental techniques alone.
Customer Testimonials
“Bechtel's Advanced Simulations and Analysis Group has been using Fluent for nearly 10 years. It has become an essential analysis tool in our engineering design and construction business. We use CFD in several of our business units, applying it to nuclear waste processing and storage, weapons decommissioning, mining and metals projects, power plant design, and oil, gas & chemical projects. Fluent's strong point is its ability to solve problems with complicated physics quickly. Flexibility is another a important feature. We often tailor our simulations to specific needs with Fluent's User Defined Functions, custom field functions, and journaling capabilities. I cannot imagine any complicated engineering project proceeding with out the use of CFD analysis.”
“At USNRC, we are using FLUENT to analyze potential nuclear plant accidents. While the likelihood that any of these events would ever happen is extremely small, the analyses are an important component of ongoing research in the nuclear industry. Full scale testing of such events would be extremely costly and potentially dangerous. CFD provides a great way to take a look at these phenomena at a minimal cost and with no risk.”
Customer Success Stories
- Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory - CFD for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Design
- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Spent Fuel Heat-up
- VTT Energy Aerosol Technology Group - Aerosol Deposition in a Condenser