Journal of Nuclear Science, Engineering and Technology (JONSAT)
In cooperation with the Iranian Nuclear Society

Parametric studies for a gas centrifuge using numerical method in OpenFOAM

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

V. Ghazanfari 1
A.A Salehi 2
A. Keshtkar 1
M. M. Shadman 1
M. H. Askari 3

1 Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O.Box:11365-8486, Tehran-Iran

2 Department of Energy Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O.Box: 14565-1114, Tehran-Iran

3 Advanced Technology Company of Iran, AEOI, P.O.Box: 14399-55431, Tehran-Iran

https://doi.org/10.24200/nst.2021.1307
Abstract
In order to increase the performance of a gas centrifuge used in the uranium enrichment industry, the gas flow field inside it is studied and simulated. In the present work, the full Navier-Stokes equations using the CFD method are used to simulate the gas flow inside the rotor. For the CFD method, a density-based implicit coupling solver was developed in OpenFOAM software, which was used to simulate the gas flow inside the rotor. The separation power was improved in a sample rotor by adjusting feed flow parameters, wall pressure, wall temperature gradient, and scoop drag force. The results show that the process variable had an optimal value in which the separation power is maximum. In order to achieve the maximum separation power of 12.87 kg UF6 SWU/year, the optimum rotor conditions were determined at a feed rate of 90 g/h, wall pressure of 44 torr, the temperature gradient of 25 K, and drag force of 1557 dyne. This study can be considered an important step in improving the performance of centrifuge separation.

Keywords

Gas centrifuge
Parametric studies
Numerical method
OpenFOAM
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2.     P. Omnes, "Numerical and physical comparisons of two models of a gas centrifuge," Computers & Fluids. 36, 1028 (2007).

 

3.     H. Wood, "Analysis of feed effects on a single-stage gas centrifuge cascade," Separation Science and Technology. 30, 2631 (1995).

 

4.     V. Borisevich, M. Borshchevskiy and S. J. D. Zeng, "On ideal and optimum cascades of gas centrifuges with variable overall separation factors," Chemical Engineering Science. 116, 465 (2014).

 

5.     S. Bogovalov, V. Kislov and I. Tronin, "Impact of the pulsed braking force on the axial circulation in a gas centrifuge," Applied Mathematics and Computation. 272, 670 (2016).

 

6.    Soubbaramayer, Centrifugation, (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg,1979).

 

7.    I. Harada, "Computation of strongly compressible rotating flows," Journal of Computational of Computational Physics. 38, 335 (1980).

 

8.  F. Doneddu, P. Roblin and H. G. Wood, "Optimization studies for gas centrifuges," Separation Science and Technology. 35, 1207 (2000).

 

9.     T. Kai and K. Hasegawa, "Numerical calculation of flow and isotope separation for SF6 gas centrifuge," Nuclear Science and Technology. 30, 100 (2000).

 

10.   V. D. Borisevich and E. V. Levin, "Separation of multicomponent isotope mixtures by gas centrifuge," Separation Science and Technology. 36, 1697 (2001).

 

11.   P. J. Migliorini, PhD thesis,IAEA safeguards,  1-158, (2013).

 

12. M. Benedict, "Nuclear chemical engineering," Mcgraw-Hill Book Company, vol. chapter 14, 1981.

 

13. K. cohen, The theory of isotope separation, McGraw Book Company. (1951).

 

14.   S. Ye, W. Yang and X. Xu, "The Implementation of an implicit coupled density based solver based on OpenFOAM," in Computing Machinery, Wuhan, China. (2017).

 

15.  ‌S. Chun, and et al., "Implementation of density based implicit LU-SGS solver in the framework of OpenFOAM," Advances in Engineering Software. 91, 80 (2016).

 

16.   F. Moukalled, L. Mangani and M. Darwish, The finite volume method in computational fluid dynamics  An advanced introduction with OpenFOAM® and Matlab®, (Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016).

 

17.   J. Blazek, Computational fluid dynamic principle and Application, Elsevier. (2001).

 

18. K. Kitamura and A. Hashimoto, "Reduced dissipation AUSM-family fluxes: HR-SLAU2 and HR-AUSM+-up for high resolution unsteady flow simulations," Computers & Fluids. 126, 41 (2016).
1.   T. Kai, "Theoretical analysis of ternary UF6 gas isotope separation by centrifuge," Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology. 20, 491 (1993).
 
2.     P. Omnes, "Numerical and physical comparisons of two models of a gas centrifuge," Computers & Fluids. 36, 1028 (2007).
 
3.     H. Wood, "Analysis of feed effects on a single-stage gas centrifuge cascade," Separation Science and Technology. 30, 2631 (1995).
 
4.     V. Borisevich, M. Borshchevskiy and S. J. D. Zeng, "On ideal and optimum cascades of gas centrifuges with variable overall separation factors," Chemical Engineering Science. 116, 465 (2014).
 
5.     S. Bogovalov, V. Kislov and I. Tronin, "Impact of the pulsed braking force on the axial circulation in a gas centrifuge," Applied Mathematics and Computation. 272, 670 (2016).
 
6.    Soubbaramayer, Centrifugation, (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg,1979).
 
7.    I. Harada, "Computation of strongly compressible rotating flows," Journal of Computational of Computational Physics. 38, 335 (1980).
 
8.  F. Doneddu, P. Roblin and H. G. Wood, "Optimization studies for gas centrifuges," Separation Science and Technology. 35, 1207 (2000).
 
9.     T. Kai and K. Hasegawa, "Numerical calculation of flow and isotope separation for SF6 gas centrifuge," Nuclear Science and Technology. 30, 100 (2000).
 
10.   V. D. Borisevich and E. V. Levin, "Separation of multicomponent isotope mixtures by gas centrifuge," Separation Science and Technology. 36, 1697 (2001).
 
11.   P. J. Migliorini, PhD thesis,IAEA safeguards,  1-158, (2013).
 
12. M. Benedict, "Nuclear chemical engineering," Mcgraw-Hill Book Company, vol. chapter 14, 1981.
 
13. K. cohen, The theory of isotope separation, McGraw Book Company. (1951).
 
14.   S. Ye, W. Yang and X. Xu, "The Implementation of an implicit coupled density based solver based on OpenFOAM," in Computing Machinery, Wuhan, China. (2017).
 
15.  ‌S. Chun, and et al., "Implementation of density based implicit LU-SGS solver in the framework of OpenFOAM," Advances in Engineering Software. 91, 80 (2016).
 
16.   F. Moukalled, L. Mangani and M. Darwish, The finite volume method in computational fluid dynamics  An advanced introduction with OpenFOAM® and Matlab®, (Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016).
 
17.   J. Blazek, Computational fluid dynamic principle and Application, Elsevier. (2001).
 
18. K. Kitamura and A. Hashimoto, "Reduced dissipation AUSM-family fluxes: HR-SLAU2 and HR-AUSM+-up for high resolution unsteady flow simulations," Computers & Fluids. 126, 41 (2016).

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