CFD analysis of heat transfer in hexagonal subchannels of super fast reactor in upward flow

A super fast reactor is a fast spectrum, supercritical, water‐cooled reactor. This paper represents CFD analysis of heat transfer in hexagonal subchannels of super fast reactor using FLUENT in ANSYS. The numerical simulation of grid stability was done by considering different mesh sizes and the turbulence model for heat transfer of supercritical water was also carried out and compared with the experimental data. RNG k‐? turbulence model with enhanced wall treatment was considered for simulations. Heat transfer and heat generation rate analysis of the outer surface rod wall is carried out with different subchannels by changing various parameters like boundary conditions and pitch‐to‐diameter ratio. The analyses reveal that the outer surface of the rod wall temperature decreases with increase in pitch‐to‐diameter ratio. Maximum coolant temperature rises in edge subchannels more than corner subchannels. Further analysis is carried out with different mass fluxes. Increases in mass flux has minimal effect on the maximum rod wall surface temperature. Maximum cladding surface temperature for the corner subchannel is less compared to the edge subchannel. Heat generation rate also decreases with increase in pitch‐to‐diameter ratio. This paper also investigates the buoyancy effect on subchannels with varying heat flux as boundary conditions considering constant mass flux.