Scale Resolved Simulations of the OECD/NEA−Vattenfall T-Junction Benchmark

Mixing of fluids in T-junction geometries is of significant interest for nuclear safety research. The most prominent example is the thermal striping phenomena in piping T-junctions, where hot and cold streams join and turbulently mix, however not completely or not immediately at the T-junction. This results in significant temperature fluctuations near the piping wall, either at the side of the secondary pipe branch or at the opposite side of the main branch pipe. The wall temperature fluctuation can cause cyclical thermal stresses and subsequently fatigue cracking of the wall.

Thermal mixing in a T-junction has been studied for validation of CFD-calculations. A T-junction thermal mixing test was carried out at the Älvkarleby Laboratory of Vattenfall Research and Development (VRD) in Sweden. Data from this test have been reserved specifically for a OECD CFD benchmark exercise. The computational results show that RANS fail to predict a realistic mixing between the fluids. The results were significantly better with scale-resolving methods such as LES, showing fairly good predictions of the velocity field and mean temperatures. The calculation predicts also similar fluctuations and frequencies observed in the model test.