Validation of a Code and Effect of Turbulence Model on Predicting Thermal Stratification Phenomena in the Upper Plenum of SFR

Thermal stratification phenomena occurring in the upper plenum during a scram transient have an important influence on the structural integrity and the passive safety of sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor (SFR). A two-dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis code was developed under cylindrical coordinate based on conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy. Block-structured grids were generated to resolve the problems with complicated geometric properties. A second-order scheme based on midpoint rule was applied for the discretization of convection and diffusion terms. Two RANS-type turbulent models, i.e. the standard k–ε model (SKE) and the realizable k–ε model (RKE), are available in this code. A sodium test with scaled model, characterized by large aspect ratio, of a Japanese prototype SFR was used for the validation, mainly from the viewpoints of vertical temperature profiles and rising characteristics of the stratification interface. Results showed that this code could reproduce overall basic behaviors of thermal stratification. The sodium with higher temperature stayed largely stagnant in the upper region under buoyancy effect. Due to the high heat conductivity of sodium, momentum transportation made its leading function. Thus, the RKE model which accounts for the mean deformation rate gave better outcomes than the SKE model.