Numerical Simulation of Aerosol Behavior in Turbulent Natural Convection

Abstract

In order to evaluate the aerosol behavior in detail in the cover gas region of LMFRs, a numerical method was developed by considering the aerosol radius as one of the space coordinates. In this method, the governing equations for the compressible gas were approximated by removing the sound wave in order to efficiently calculate the temperature field with a large gradient. The convection terms of these equations were discretized by the 3rd order upwind scheme which was derived for an irregular spaced staggered mesh system. Although it was shown in a previous study that this method was reasonable by calculating basic heat transfer tests of the cover gas region, it is desirable to improve the method in order to achieve more accurate results. In this study, advanced models were developed which simulate the interaction between the mixed gas and aerosols in the flow field. A comparison of the calculated results vs. the experimental results indicated good agreement of temperature distribution. In addition, the aerosol mass concentration in the cover gas region could be evaluated much better with this advanced model.

KEYWORDS:

• aerosol behavior
• cover gas region
• aerosol growth
• 3rd order upwind scheme
• Adams-Bashforth scheme
• turbulent natural convection
• numerical solution