Students

ThienAn Nguyen

Summary

The VTR is designed to house 10 test cartridges or sub-assemblies.  The final design is still in development but the goal is to be able to allow users to insert materials and instrumentation into these cartridges to observe the effects of fast neutron flux on the test material and to collect fast neutron data.  Using the NRC code TRACE, the cartridge is modeled and the main objective is to demonstrate TRACE modeling capabilities through code to code benchmarking with the CFD code STAR-CCM+ along with initial safety analysis of the cartridge.  The two codes compliment each other – STAR-CCM+, being a CFD code, would allow for an in-depth analysis of axial flow and temperature profile while TRACE would allow for a more holistic and systematic analysis.  Overall, TRACE provided results very close to what STAR-CCM+ yielded and a 7-pin, “contoured” design proved to be the most efficient and effective design thus far.