Multiscale Modeling of Flow in Rod Bundles: From Direct Numerical Simulation and Subchannel to Coarse-Mesh CFD

Fast and accurate evaluation of flow and heat transfer phenomena in rod bundles is a problem of long-standing interest in nuclear engineering. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can provide accurate but relatively time-intensive estimates, such that simulations of very long transients with high spatial detail are infeasible. On the other hand, subchannel codes require relatively low computational time and can provide pin-level estimates, but have substantial empiricism in evaluating aspects such as crossflows and turbulent mixing coefficients.