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Thermal Hydraulics

Thermal hydraulics modeling and simulation at ORNL relies on a combination of custom code development, leveraging of open source software, and extension of commercial codes. These codes span a range of resolutions, including:

• Direct numerical simulation (DNS) capabilities that provide fully resolved numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations • Large eddy simulation (LES) capabilities that fully resolve large scale turbulence structures and use engineering models to describe structures smaller than the computational mesh elements • Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulation capabilities that rely on engineering models to describe all turbulence • Advanced mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for simulating turbulent flows • Multiphase CFD using the level set and volume of fluid methods • Subchannel models which provide reduced order lumped parameter representations of thermal hydraulic phenomena • Lumped thermal-hydraulics component models to simulate an entire nuclear system including the balance of plant