A Second-Order Turbulence Model Based on a Reynolds Stress Approach for Two-Phase Flow—Part I: Adiabatic Cases

In our work in 2008, we evaluated the aptitude of the code Neptune_CFD to reproduce the incidence of a structure topped by vanes on a boiling layer, within the framework of the Neptune project. The objective was to reproduce the main effects of the spacer grids. The turbulence of the liquid phase was modeled by a first-order K-ε model. We show in this paper that this model is unable to describe the turbulence of rotating flows, in accordance with the theory. The objective of this paper is to improve the turbulence modeling of the liquid phase by a second turbulence model based on a Rij-ε approach. Results obtained on typical single-phase cases highlight the improvement of the prediction for all computed values. We tested the turbulence model Rij-ε implemented in the code versus typical adiabatic two-phase flow experiments. We check that the simulations with the Reynolds stress transport model (RSTM) give satisfactory results in a simple geometry as compared to a K-ε model: this point is crucial before calculating rod bundle geometries where the K-ε model may fail