Large Eddy Simulation of Flow in Parallel Jets Experiment

The upper core structures in sodium fast reactors are subject to thermal striping, which in turn cause thermal fatigue and possible structural damage. The prediction of turbulent ows in this region, characterized by multiple parallel jets mixing, is of paramount importance for the design and safety analysis of sodium fast reactors. This project proposes to simulate an experiment performed at Argonne National Laboratory, representative for the geometry under consideration (the MAX experiment). Using the spectral element code Nek5000 as a Large Eddy Simulation tool, a suitable set of new boundary conditions has been implemented applying the Synthetic Eddy Method, in order to reproduce experimental data and provide physical insight of the ow in the geometry in question. A comparison between different boundary conditions will show the improvement to the code that has been achieved by this work.