DOI: 10.1615/ICHMT.2008.CHT
ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-253-9
ISSN: 2578-5486
NATURAL CONVECTION COOLING OF HOT MOLYBDENUM PLATES
SINOPSIS
As part of the safety analysis of thermohydraulic processes at ANSTO, the manufacture of molybdenum isotopes for the purpose of radiotherapy is analysed for sufficient decay heat removal under natural convection conditions. The aim of this investigation is to determine, with the aid of computational fluid dynamics, the maximum temperature of a molybdenum plate target after irradiation in the OPAL (Open Pool Australian Light-water) research reactor. The heat transfer modelling was conducted in a finite volume formulation using the commercial CFD code CFX. Due to the ratio of plate length to plate diagonal cross section being very large, a two dimensional (2D) simulation was sufficient to reproduce the characteristic vortical formations observed during controlled experiments. Imperative to the accuracy of the calculation was the use of the Monte Carlo radiation model coupled with the SST k-ω turbulence model to numerically determine the maximum plate surface temperature within 8 Kelvin of the experimental result. Other salient features of the CFD simulations such as heat plume patterns and local velocities along the moly-plate target were also verified.