CFD analysis and experimental investigation associated with the design of the Los Alamos nuclear materials storage facility

摘要

The Nuclear Materials Storage Facility (NMSF) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is being renovated for long-term storage of canisters designed to hold heat-generating nuclear materials, such as powders, ingots, and other components. The continual heat generation within the canisters necessitates a reliable cooling scheme of sufficient magnitude which maintains the stored material temperatures within acceptable limits. The primary goal of this study was to develop both an experimental facility and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a subsection of the NMSF which could be used to observe general performance trends of a proposed passive cooling scheme and serve as a design tool for canister holding fixtures. Comparisons of numerical temperature and velocity predictions with empirical data indicate that the CFD model provides an accurate representation of the NMSF experimental facility. Minor modifications in the model geometry and boundary conditions are needed to enhance its accuracy, however, the various fluid and thermal models correctly capture the basic physics.