Pebble bed: reflector treatment and pressure velocity coupling

Journal article

In this report, we describe some models and numerical methods used to simulate the flow and temperature in a pebble bed modular nuclear reactor. The reactor core is filled with around 450000 spheres containing low enriched uranium and helium is forced through these hot pebbles to cool the system down. The group first investigated the flow model in the pebbles. Numerical aspects were then considered to tackle difficulties encountered with the flow simulation and the temperature inside the pebbles. Numerical schemes are presented that can significantly improve the accuracy of the computed results.

Authors: Charpin, J; Kobo, N; Legodi, K; Makinde, O; Ngnotchouye, J

• Publication date: 2009-01-01