Full coupling of the Calore and Fuego codes has been exercised in this report. This is done to allow solution of general conjugate heat transfer applications that require more than a fluid flow analysis with a very simple conduction region (solved using Fuego alone) or more than a complex conduction/radiation analysis using a simple Newton's law of cooling boundary condition (solved using Calore alone). Code coupling allows for solution of both complex fluid and solid regions, with or without thermal radiation, either participating or non-participating. A coupled physics model is developed to compare to data taken from a horizontal concentric cylinder arrangement using the Penlight heating apparatus located at the thermal test complex (TTC) at Sandia National Laboratories. The experimental set-up requires use of a conjugate heat transfer analysis including conduction, nonparticipating thermal radiation, and internal natural convection. The fluids domain in the model is complex and can be characterized by stagnant fluid regions, laminar circulation, a transition regime, and low-level turbulent regions, all in the same domain. Subsequently, the fluids region requires a refined mesh near the wall so that numerical resolution is achieved. Near the wall, buoyancy exhibits its strongest influence on turbulence (i.e., where turbulence conditions exist). Because low-Reynolds number effects are important in anisotropic natural convective flows of this type, the {ovr {nu}{sup 2}}-f turbulence model in Fuego is selected and compared to results of laminar flow only. Coupled code predictions are compared to temperature measurements made both in the solid regions and a fluid region. Turbulent and laminar flow predictions are nearly identical for both regions. Predicted temperatures in the solid regions compare well to data. The largest discrepancies occur at the bottom of the annulus. Predicted temperatures in the fluid region, for the most part, compare well to data. As before, the largest discrepancies occur at the bottom of the annulus where the flow transitions to or is a low-level turbulent flow.
A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is conducted for internal natural convection heat transfer using the low Mach number code Fuego. The flow conditions under investigation are primarily laminar, transitional, or low-intensity level turbulent flows. In the case of turbulent boundary layers at low-level turbulence or transitional Reynolds numbers, the use of standard wall functions no longer applies, in general, for wall-bounded flows. One must integrate all the way to the wall in order to account for gradients in the dependent variables in the viscous sublayer. Fuego provides two turbulence models in which resolution of the near-wall region is appropriate. These models are the v2-f turbulence model and a Launder-Sharma, low-Reynolds number turbulence model. Two standard geometries are considered: the annulus formed between horizontal concentric cylinders and a square enclosure. Each geometry emphasizes wall shear flow and complexities associated with turbulent or near turbulent boundary layers in contact with a motionless core fluid. Overall, the Fuego simulations for both laminar and turbulent flows compared well to measured data, for both geometries under investigation, and to a widely accepted commercial CFD code (FLUENT).
Yucca Mountain has been designated as the nation's high-level radioactive waste repository, and the U.S. Department of Energy has been approved to apply to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to construct a repository. The temperature and humidity inside the emplacement drift will affect the degradation rate of the waste packages and waste forms as well as the quantity of water available to transport dissolved radionuclides out of the waste canister. Thermal radiation and turbulent natural convection are the main modes of heat transfer inside the drift. This paper presents the result of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations of a segment of emplacement drift. The model contained the three main types of waste packages and was run at the time that the peak waste package temperatures are expected. Results show that thermal radiation is the dominant mode of heat transfer inside the drift. Natural convection affects the variation in surface temperature on the hot waste packages and can account for a large fraction of the heat transfer for the colder waste packages. The paper also presents the sensitivity of model results to uncertainties in several input parameters. The sensitivity study shows that the uncertainty in peak waste package temperatures due to in-drift parameters is <3 C.
Thermally-induced natural convection heat transfer in the annulus between horizontal concentric cylinders has been studied using the commercial code Fluent. The boundary layers are meshed all the way to the wall because forced convection wall functions are not appropriate. Various one-and two-equation turbulence models have been considered. Overall and local heat transfer rates are compared with existing experimental data.
The thermal-hydrologic (TH) and coupled process models describe the evolution of a potential geologic repository as heat is released from emplaced waste. The evolution (thermal, hydrologic, chemical, and mechanical) of the engineered barrier and geologic systems is heavily dependent on the heat released by the waste packages and how the heat is transferred from the emplaced wastes through the drifts and through the repository host rock. The essential elements of this process are extracted (or abstracted) from the process-level models that incorporate the basic energy and mass conservation principles and applied to the total system models used to describe the overall performance of the potential repository. The process of total system performance assessment (TSPA) abstraction is the following. First is a description of the parameter inputs used in the process-level models. A brief description is given hereof past inputs for the viability assessment (e.g., for TSPA-VA) and current inputs for the site recommendation (TSPA-SR). This is followed by a highlight of the process-level models from which the abstractions are made. These include descriptions of TH, thermal-hydrologic-chemical (THC), and thermal-mechanical (TM) processes used to describe the performance of individual waste packages and waste emplacement drifts as well as the repository as a whole. Next is a description of what (and how) information is abstracted from the process-level models. This also includes an accounting of the features, events, and processes (FEPs) that are important to both the regulators and the international repository community in general. Finally, an identification of the TSPA model components that utilize the abstracted information to characterize the overall performance of a potential geologic repository is given.