Abstract:
The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) design was one of six designs chosen
for development under the Generation IV initiative. Thermal mixing of the coolant at
the exit of the reactor has been a common concern for VHTR reactor designs.
Thermal mixing processes are commonly investigated through the use of scaled
experimental models. Accurate scaling methods are essential for designing
experimental facilities that accurately reproduce the thermal mixing processes of the
VHTR design under investigation. A scaling method that is based upon a two-equation
turbulence closure model is developed in this paper. Numerical studies
performed verify that this scaling method correctly identifies the similarity parameters
of the k-ε turbulence closure model and preserves the turbulent processes within the
flow.
