http://dx.doi.org/10.5516/NET.02.2014.

020

DEVELOPMENT OF A CORE THERMO-FLUID ANALYSIS

CODE FOR PRISMATIC GAS COOLED REACTORS
NAM-IL TAK*, SUNG NAM LEE, MIN-HWAN KIM, HONG SIK LIM, and JAE MAN NOH
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
Daedeok-Daero 989-111, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-353, Korea
*
Corresponding author. E-mail : takni@kaeri.re.kr

Received February 25, 2014

Accepted for Publication June 16, 2014

A new computer code, named CORONA (Core Reliable Optimization and thermo-fluid Network Analysis), was
developed for the core thermo-fluid analysis of a prismatic gas cooled reactor. The CORONA code is targeted for
whole-core thermo-fluid analysis of a prismatic gas cooled reactor, with fast computation and reasonable accuracy. In
order to achieve this target, the development of CORONA focused on (1) an efficient numerical method, (2) efficient
grid generation, and (3) parallel computation. The key idea for the efficient numerical method of CORONA is to solve
a three-dimensional solid heat conduction equation combined with one-dimensional fluid flow network equations. The
typical difficulties in generating computational grids for a whole core analysis were overcome by using a basic unit
cell concept. A fast calculation was finally achieved by a block-wise parallel computation method. The objective of the
present paper is to summarize the motivation and strategy, numerical approaches, verification and validation, parallel
computation, and perspective of the CORONA code.
KEYWORDS : Prismatic Core, Fuel Temperature, Fluid Flow Network, Gas Cooled Reactor, CORONA, VHTR

1. INTRODUCTION Therefore, during the development of existing prismatic

A prismatic gas cooled reactor is a candidate design
for national research programs such as the next generation
nuclear plant (NGNP) project of the U. S. [1], and the nuclear
hydrogen production and demonstration (NHDD) project
of Korea [2]. For the smooth success of the NHDD project,
the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)
has been developing key technologies for the design of a
prismatic very high temperature reactor (VHTR) [3]. As
one of the crucial technologies for the NHDD project, the
development of a core thermo-fluid analysis code, named
CORONA (Core Reliable Optimization and thermo-fluid
Network Analysis), started in 2009. The CORONA code
is targeted for a whole core thermo-fluid analysis of a
prismatic gas cooled reactor with fast computation and
reasonable accuracy.
Figs. 1 and 2 show the conceptual view of a typical
prismatic reactor core and its fuel block respectively [4].
The active part of the prismatic core consists of a large
number of vertical stacks of a fuel block. Accurate pre-
diction of the fuel temperature is crucial to ensure the
barrier against the release of fission products into the
primary coolant. However, the complex geometry of a
prismatic fuel block hinders accurate evaluations of the
temperature distribution without elaborate numerical cal-
culations.
gas-cooled reactor designs (e.g., MHTGR of the General
Atomics [5] and HTTR of Japan [6]), efficient numerical
methods were applied to analyse the thermo-fluid behaviour
of prismatic cores. The key idea of these efficient methods
is to solve a three-dimensional solid heat conduction equation
combined with one-dimensional fluid flow equations. A
combined method was adopted in the DEMISE code of
General Atomics [7] and the FLOWNET/TRUMP codes
of Japan [8]. Recently the existing idea was improved by
the present authors [9] and implemented into the CORO-
NA code. Moreover, the fluid flow model described in [9] has
been further improved through a one-dimensional network
model.
The present paper summarizes the motivation and strat-
egy, major outcomes, and perspective of the development
of the CORONA code.
2. DEVELOPMENT MOTIVATION AND STRATEGY
The recent rapid development of computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) technology provides a powerful tool to
carry out elaborate numerical calculations with complex
geometries for nuclear applications. Some CFD codes
such as CFX [10] and STAR-CD [11] are commercially
available. Thanks to the commercial CFD codes, the ap-

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TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

Fig. 1. Conceptual View of Typical Prismatic Reactor Core

Fig. 2. Standard Fuel Block of Typical Prismatic Reactor

plication areas of CFD technology have been growing.
Commercial CFD codes are user-friendly and well vali-
dated against most industrial problems which have a single
phase fluid. In spite of the remarkable development of
CFD technology, however, a whole prismatic core CFD
analysis with geometric details is still a challenging task.
Since fine meshes are required for accurate CFD calcula-
tions, most CFD applications are limited to local behaviours
(e.g., single fuel column [12,13], and seven fuel columns
[14]) in the design of a prismatic reactor. In 2009, Pointer
and Thomas [15] published the STAR-CD results for a
whole core of a prismatic reactor. It is clear that such a
CFD analysis requires tremendous computational efforts.
Additional significant efforts have to be devoted to gen-
erate computational grids of high quality for a good con-
vergence. Such efforts are valuable for a final calculation
but are too taxing for a designer who wants a large number
of calculations with various design options.
The other available option at KAERI could be the use
of system codes such as MARS-GCR [16] and GAM-
MA+ [17]. It should be noted, however, that the system
codes are targeted for system transients. Their meshes
are too coarse for a detailed thermo-fluid analysis of a
prismatic fuel block. The accuracy of the system code
calculations is not satisfactory for the core thermal design
of a prismatic reactor (e.g., hot spot analysis).
Therefore, a new computer code named CORONA
has been developed to overcome the difficulties in the
available tools at KAERI, i.e., CFD codes and system codes.
The CORONA code is intended for whole-core thermo-
fluid analysis of a prismatic gas cooled reactor with fast
computation and reasonable accuracy. Fig. 3 summariz-
es the thermo-fluid analysis codes and their application
areas for the design of prismatic gas-cooled reactors at
KAERI. The position of CORONA lies in between CFD
and system codes. Its position is similar to that of a sub-
channel analysis code such as COBRA [18] used in a light
water cooled reactor design.

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 TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors
Fig. 3. Thermo-fluid Analysis Codes and Their Areas for the Design of Prismatic Gas-cooled Reactors at KAERI
In order to achieve the target of the CORONA code
(i.e., fast computation of whole core thermo-fluid analysis
with reasonable accuracy), three fundamental strategies
were established and applied to the development of CO-
RONA: (1) an efficient numerical method, (2) efficient
grid generation, and (3) parallel computation.
Efficient Numerical Method:
The use of an efficient numerical method is the most
important requirement for a new code to achieve
its goal. The CORONA code adopts the existing
idea of the efficient numerical method used for the
design of MHTGR and HTTR (e.g., DEMISE and
FLOWNET/TRAMP). This efficient method solves
a three-dimensional heat conduction equation for a
solid like a CFD code and one-dimensional conser-
vation equations for a fluid flow like a system code.
In 2012, Travis and El-Genk [19] verified the ef-
ficiency of this combined method using STAR-CD
calculations.
Efficient Grid Generation:
For a whole prismatic core thermo-fluid simulation,
grid generation can also be a time-consuming pro-
cess. Therefore, an efficient grid generation method
using the concept of basic unit cells was developed
by the present authors [9,20]. This concept of the
basic unit cells adopted in the CORONA code ena-
bles the effective generation of unstructured grids
for prismatic fuel blocks without a special mesh
generator. The revision of the generated grids is
also simple and convenient.
Parallel Computation:
Reliance on a parallel computing technique is inevi-
table for a whole prismatic core simulation since sig-
nificant numbers of meshes (e.g., in the order of ten
million) are required. Parallel computation leads not
only to a speed up of the calculations but also allows
the use of a normal personal computer (PC).
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VOL.46 NO.5 OCTOBER 2014
Major applications of the CORONA code are (1) a
steady-state hot spot analysis, (2) steady-state analysis for
off-design conditions such as a coolant channel blockage
accident, (3) some transient scenarios (e.g., rod ejection),
(4) a coupled analysis (e.g., with neutronics) for high
fidelity, (5) design optimization calculations. The CO-
RONA code is written in C++ and can be run on either
Windows or Linux operating system.
3. NUMERICAL APPROACHES
3.1 Grid Generation Using Basic Unit Cells
The first step in the numerical calculation of thermo-
fluid phenomena is to set up a grid. The unique feature of
the CORONA code is the use of the basic unit cells for
the generation of computational grids. The concept of basic
unit cells provides an efficient generation of unstructured
computational grids to model an entire fuel block. The
present authors noticed that the prismatic fuel blocks
have regular arrangement of hexagonal or pentagonal unit
cells as shown in Fig. 4. Prismatic fuel blocks can be repre-
sented by several types of basic unit cells and are shown
in Fig. 5. The unstructured computational grids are defined
within the basic unit cells. Using the combination of the
basic unit cells, unstructured grids can be efficiently gen-
erated to simulate the thermo-fluid behavior of the fuel
blocks. Fig. 6 is provided in order to improve the under-
standing of the relation between the basic unit cells and
the computational grids. It shows the assignment of the
basic unit cells to generate the computational grids of the
standard fuel block. The change in generated grids is also
simple and convenient. Fig. 7 illustrates an example of
computational grids generated using the basic unit cells.
Fig. 8 shows the modeling procedure from the basic
unit cells to a whole prismatic core. Initially, computa-
tional grids are defined within each type of basic unit cell.
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TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

Fig. 4. Typical Unit Cell Arrangements in Prismatic Fuel Blocks

Fig. 5. Basic Unit Cell Types and Examples of Computational Grids

Fig. 6. Basic Unit Cell Assignment to Generate Computational Fig. 7. Example of Computational Grids Generated Using the
Grids of Standard Fuel Block Basic Unit Cells for the Standard Fuel Block

Then, using an axial combination of the basic unit cells,
a hexagonal (or pentagonal) body called a pin is made.
Three-dimensional computational grids for a hexagonal
fuel (or reflector) block are generated using a two-dimen-
sional combination of pins. Modeling of a whole core
is finally finished using a combination of hexagonal fuel
and reflector blocks.
The number of computational grids for a solid used in
the CORONA code has a similar level as the CFD analysis.
However, it should be noted that the computational expense
of a solid heat conduction equation (i.e., Eq. (1)) is much
less than that of fluid conservation equations in a whole
core CFD analysis of a prismatic core.
3.2 Numerical Model for Solid
In order to simulate the heat conduction through the

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 TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors
Fig. 8. Modeling Procedure from Basic Unit Cell to Whole Prismatic Core
complex geometry of the fuel block, the CORONA code
solves the following three-dimensional heat conduction
equation:
(1)
The CORONA code adopts the finite volume method to
solve Eq. (1). The key step of the finite volume method is
the integration of Eq. (1) over a control volume to yield a
discretised equation:
(2)
The obtained discretised equation can be expressed for a
general nodal point P as follows:
(3)
(4)
(5)
where the superscript 0 represents the known value at the
previous time step and the subscript i indicates the neigh-
boring node. In Eq. (5), ks,i and Vi represent the thermal
conductivity and the node volume at the node face be-
tween the node P and the neighboring node i. Equation
(3) is a well-known form for unstructured grids and sinon
is the cross-diffusion term resulting from the non-orthog-
onality of grids. This term disappears if the grids are fully
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VOL.46 NO.5 OCTOBER 2014
orthogonal. At a fluid boundary, the following equation
is governed:
(6)
Equations (3) and (6) can be rearranged into matrix form as
(7)
Equation (7) can be solved simultaneously for all nodes if
the material properties and qs,iconv are known. The detailed
derivation from Eq. (1) to Eq. (7) is not given in this
paper since it is lengthy and widely available in a CFD
textbook dealing with unstructured meshes (e.g., see Ver-
steeg and Malalasekera [21]).
3.3 Numerical Model for Fluid Flow
In contrast to the solid geometry of the fuel blocks, the
fluid in the prismatic fuel blocks flows through simple
circular channels. A fraction of the core flow bypasses the
fuel block coolant channels and passes through the gaps
between the hexagonal columns. Such gaps can also be
considered as rectangular channels connected to each other.
For the fluid flow within a prismatic core, a one-dimensional
approach can therefore be a good approximation. Such
an approximation avoids fine meshes near the walls as
well as turbulence conservation equations which are
one of the major challenges in a CFD analysis. A one-
dimensional approximation for the duct flows enables a
fast calculation with reasonable accuracy. In addition, there
is potential for an exchange of coolant between the bypass
gaps and the coolant channels due to cross flow gaps which
are small spaces between the horizontal faces of the blocks.
Therefore, a one-dimensional network model has been widely
used for a fluid flow in a prismatic core [7].
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TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

Fig. 9. Concept of Node and Junction for Fluid Network

A fluid flow network model implemented into the CO- The first step to solve Eqs. (11) and (12) is to guess the
RONA code is based on the pressure correction method pressures at all nodes. These values are treated as prelimi-
[22~24]. One-dimensional conservation equation for a fluid nary values and donated by P. The correction P is de-
flow can be written as: fined as the difference between the correct pressure field

and the guessed pressure field P.
(8) (13)
Similarly, the volumetric flow rate correction Q and density
correction are defined as:
(14)
(9)
(15)
The density of the gas can be obtained using the ideal gas law.

(10) (16)

Where R is the gas constant and zc is the compressibility

Under normal operating conditions, the thermo-fluid factor. Substitution of Eqs. (13)~(16) into the momentum
behavior in a prismatic gas-cooled reactor core can be equation (i.e., Eq. (12)) and neglecting the terms involving
described using the simplified forms of Eqs. (8)~(10) the products of the corrections, yield the following equation
based on the steady-state, constant flow area, and neg- for the volumetric flow rate correction.
ligible buoyance assumptions. Fig. 9 shows the concept
of a node and junction to derive the mathematical formu-
lation for an arbitrary network of one-dimensional fluid
flows. In this paper, the simplified equations which are (17)
applicable to normal operating conditions are described
in the following derivations since a steady-state hot spot
analysis is the most crucial concern of the CORONA cal- where
culations.
Initially, the steady-state continuity equation is applied
at a one-dimensional fluid node (i) having an arbitrary (18)
number of initiating junctions (Ii) and terminating junc-
tions (Ti ), as shown in Fig. 9(a).
(19)
(11)

For a junction (j) having upstream fluid node (iuj) and down- Finally, the substitution of Eqs. (14), (15) and (17) into
stream fluid node (idj) shown in Fig. 9(b), the simplified the continuity equation (i.e., Eq. (11)) yields the following
momentum equation can be applied as equation for the pressure correction.

(12) (20)

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 TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

Where aj, dj, cj, and dj are the rearranged coefficients in

terms of each P node respectively and ei is the source
term.
With the known field of Pi, Qj can be obtained using
Eq. (17). Then, new values for Pi, Qj, and f,i are deter-
mined using Eqs. (13), (14), and (16). The newly updated
values are now considered as the preliminary values for
the next iteration and the whole process is repeated a
number of times after which the fluid energy conservation
equation is solved.
The steady-state one-dimensional form for the energy
conservation equation governing the fluid flow network
can be derived as

(21)

where hi is the enthalpy of the fluid node i and j is the

parameter for the donor property defined as

(22)

The central differencing scheme can be used as an

alternative option for Eq. (21). In the case of a single
pipeline, Eqs. (20) and (21) can be solved using the tri-
diagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA), while sparse matrix
techniques can be applied in the case of complex flow
networks.
3.4 Interfacing of Solid and Fluid Models
The coupling between the three-dimensional solid model
and the one-dimensional fluid model uses a typical Nus-
selt number correlation such as:
(23)
(24)
Eq. (23) is the correlation of McEligot et al. [7, 25] which
is one of the most popular correlations for a prismatic
gas-cooled reactor core under normal operating condi-
tions. The entrance effect is neglected due to little inter-
est in the entrance region. Eqs. (6) and (21) are combined
as follows:
(25)
(26)
Fig. 10. Overall Computational Procedure for a Steady-State
Analysis
where i represents each surface of the solid contacted
with the fluid node j and As,i,j is the heat transfer area be-
tween the solid surface i and fluid node j.
The overall computational procedure for a steady-
state analysis is shown in Fig. 10. When the maximum
value of the fluid temperature change during the iteration
is less than the user supplied parameter, the convergence
is regarded as having been achieved.
4. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION
4.1 Heat Conduction in Unit Cells
In order to verify the multi-dimensional heat conduc-
tion within unit cells of the prismatic fuel block, two concep-
tual problems using unit cells were investigated [20]. The
verification study started from a single unit cell problem
which is one of the simplest test cases. The single unit cell
consists of a fuel compact, helium gap, and graphite region.
A uniform heat generation in the fuel compact was assumed

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TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors
Fig. 11. Result of Verification of CORONA Using Single Unit
Cell Problem
Fig. 12. Layout of Seven Unit Cell Problem and Its Boundary
Conditions
and the temperature of the outmost boundary was fixed.
Since it is believed that a commercial CFD code can solve
a multi-dimensional heat conduction problem accurately,
a commercial CFD code, CFX, is used for the verifica-
tion of the CORONA code for the multi-dimensional heat
conduction problem. Fig. 11 compares the predicted tem-
perature profile by CORONA with that by CFX. It shows
that CORONA accurately solves the multi-dimensional
heat conduction equation. It is obvious that a finer mesh
provides a more accurate result.
The second case considers seven unit cells composed
of one coolant cell (designated as C) surrounded by six
fuel cells (designated as F) as shown in Fig. 12. A uniform
heat generation in the fuel compacts was assumed and
the temperature at the coolant boundary was fixed. In addi-
tion, the adiabatic boundary condition was imposed on the
outmost boundary of the unit cells.
Fig. 13 shows the predicted temperature profiles along
Line A in Fig. 12. It was observed that when a fine mesh is
adopted, the accuracy of CORONA is close to that of CFX.
648
Fig. 13. Result of Verification of CORONA Using Seven Unit
Cell Problem
Fig. 14. Schematic of Kaburaki and Takizuka Experimental
Apparatus for Bypass Flow and Crossflow [25]
4.2 Bypass Flow and Crossflow in Fuel Column
An air flow experiment performed by Kaburaki and
Takizuka [26] was selected to validate the one-dimensional
fluid flow network model implemented in CORONA [27].
Fig. 14 shows a schematic of their experimental appara-
tus. Four graphite blocks were stacked up in a column
and surrounded by a steel shroud to simulate the bypass
gap (~1.2mm) between fuel columns. The hexagonal fuel
block has 12 coolant holes 20 mm in diameter. One arti-
ficial cross flow gap (~1 mm) was created in the middle
of the column to simulate a crossflow gap between fuel
blocks. The air at atmospheric pressure was drawn from
the top of the test section and flowed down the channels
and the bypass gap. The bottom of the bypass gap was
completely sealed and the coolant leakage flow, which
entered the bypass gap, was merged into the main coolant
channels through the crossflow gap. The mass flow rate
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 TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

and the static pressure distribution in each coolant chan-

nel were measured. The measurement uncertainties of the
experiment were not published and the sensitivity calcu-
lations of CORONA confirmed later that the effect of the
entrance and exit form losses was small.
Fig. 15 shows a comparison of the CORONA prediction
results with the measured pressures. A good agreement can
be seen along all of the stacks. This was achieved by ap-
plying the correlation of Kaburaki and Takizuka developed
based on their experiment. This means that the described
one-dimensional fluid flow model is correctly implemented
into the CORONA code and is able to simulate the bypass
flow and crossflow phenomena reasonably.

4.3 Conjugate Heat Transfer in Fuel Column

In order to verify a conjugate heat transfer in a prismatic Fig. 15. Result of Validation of CORONA Using the Kaburaki
and Takizuka Experiment
fuel block, two conceptual problems with single fuel columns
were investigated [28, 29]. Two types of fuel blocks (i.e., Table 1. T
 hermo-fluid Parameters for Single Fuel Column
standard and reserved shutdown control (RSC) fuel blocks) Problems
were considered. Since it is believed that a commercial
CFD code is well verified against a single phase conjugate Parameter
Standard Fuel RSC Fuel
heat transfer problem, the verification of the CORONA Column Column
code is made using a comparison with the results of CFX. Column thermal power (MW) 3.118 2.832
However, it should be noted that a commercial CFD code
also needs a sufficient validation for prismatic core condi- Column flow rate (kg/s) 1.207 1.268
tions (i.e., high temperature helium flow at a high heat flux Coolant inlet temperature ( C) o
490 490
condition in a prismatic fuel block geometry).
Table 1 shows the major thermo-fluid parameters for System pressure (MPa) 7 7
the considered single fuel column problems under con- Number of stacked fuel blocks 6 6
sideration. Fig. 16 shows the CFX meshes used to simu-
late the single fuel column problems. Using symmetry, Active core height (m) 4.758 4.758
1/12 and 1/2 sections of the geometries were modeled for Bypass gap size (mm) 2 2
CFX calculations of the standard and RSC fuel blocks,
respectively. Crossflow gap size (mm) 1 1
Axial power profile Uniform Uniform

Fig. 16. CFX Meshes to Simulate Single Fuel Column Problems

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TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors
Fig. 17. Comparison of Predicted Axial Temperature
Distributions at the Center of the Hottest Fuel Compact for the
Standard Fuel Column Problem
Fig. 18. Comparison of Predicted Axial Temperature
Distributions at the Center of the Hottest Fuel Compact for the
RSC Fuel Column Problem
Figs. 17 and 18 compare the predicted axial tempera-
ture distribution at the center of the hottest fuel compact.
They clearly show good agreements. Non-continuing re-
gions between fuel blocks are generated due to the non-fuel
zones (i.e., graphite plug and seat). A comparison of the
coolant velocities at the control hole of the RSC fuel column
is shown in Fig. 19. It also shows a good agreement. Figs.
17~19 obviously indicate that the CORONA code can re-
liably simulate a conjugate heat transfer in the prismatic
fuel blocks.
Although the predicted temperature profiles by CO-
RONA are comparable to those of CFX, the used compu-
tation time is significantly different. In order to obtain the
result in Fig. 18, for example, about 46 hours were spent by
CFX using four CPUs whereas about 4 minutes were spent
by CORONA using a single CPU of the same computer. A
650
Fig. 19. Comparison of Predicted Coolant Velocities at the
Control Hole for the RSC Fuel Column Problem
fair comparison of the computation time is not feasible due
to differing convergence criteria and a differing number of
meshes. However, it is obvious that significant reduction
in the computation time can be achieved by CORONA and
the difference in the computation time would dramatically
soar in the case of a whole core analysis.
5. PARALLEL COMPUTATION
5.1 Block-Based Parallel Computation
Parallel computing capability is important for the CORONA
code since a whole prismatic core simulation requires a huge com-
puting cost and a significant amount of computer memory.
For a simple implementation of parallel computing capability,
a block-based parallel computation method was developed
for the CORONA code [30]. The idea of the block-based
parallel computation method is based on the fact that each
fuel (or reflector) block is completely enclosed by the fluid
boundaries due to the existence of bypass and cross flows
as shown in Fig. 20. Therefore, the heat conduction matrix
shown in Eq. (7) can be naturally decomposed into much
smaller matrixes that represent each fuel (or reflector) block.
The decomposed matrix can be solved independently using
a parallel computation library.
5.2 Application to Whole Core Analysis
In order to examine the improved performance by the
parallel computation, an example problem for a whole
prismatic core was investigated. PMR600 [2] was selected
as a reference core. The major thermo-fluid boundary
conditions are shown in Table 2. The reactor power profile
obtained by the neutronic analysis [31] was applied. The
applied power distribution is shown in Fig. 21. The heat loss to
the reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) was neglected.
Fig. 22 shows the calculation model for the CORONA
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 TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

Fig. 20. Fuel Blocks Enclosed by Fluid Boundaries

Fig. 21. Axial Power Distribution Used for PMR600
Benchmark Calculation
Table 2. M
 ajor Thermo-fluid Parameters for PMR600 Benchmark
Calculation
Parameter Value
Core thermal power (MW) 600
No. of fuel columns 108
No. of fuel blocks per column 9
No. of reflector columns with control rod hole 36
Core flow rate (kg/s) 251.3
Coolant inlet temperature (oC) 490
System pressure (MPa) 7
Active core height (m) 7.929
Bypass gap size (mm) 2
Crossflow gap size (mm) 0 Fig. 22. CORONA Model for 1/6 Core of PMR 600

calculation. The total numbers of solid and fluid nodes

Table 3. S
 pecification of Two PCs for Parallel Computation
used were ~39,000,000 and ~200,000, respectively. The Benchmark
calculations were carried out on two PCs with Microsoft
Windows 7 Enterprise K. Table 3 shows the specification CPU No. of CPUs RAM
of the two PCs used. The communications between the
two PCs were made using Gigabit Ethernet connections. Intel Xeon X5690,
Intel MPI [32] was used for parallel computation library PC 1 Six Core, 2 144 GB
3.47 GHz
on the Windows operating system.
Fig. 23 shows the predicted maximum temperature
within each fuel and reflector column based on a serial Intel Xeon X5690,
calculation. It shows that the predicted temperatures are PC 2 Six Core, 2 96 GB
reasonable. The same calculations were repeated based on 3.47 GHz
parallel computations. Nine cases were tested to inves-
tigate the parallel performance and Fig. 24 summarizes
the result for the test problem. It was thoroughly checked
whether all the cases produced the same results. Fig. 24 reduced with the number of processors. The maximum
shows that the computing speed is significantly improved number of processors per PC was limited to 4 due to the
by the parallel computation. The computing time was random access memory (RAM) capacity of the PCs.

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TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors

blocks. The usefulness of the CORONA code was proved by

the example calculations using a whole prismatic core model.
Further research is on-going to improve the physical
models and increase the capability of the CORONA code.
The major items are (1) coupling with the DeCART code
[33] for a high fidelity calculation, (2) variable bypass
(and crossflow) gap size model for consideration of the
change in the size with the location as well as the burnup,
and (3) transient simulation capability.
It is believed that the CORONA code can be practi-
cally used in a whole core thermo-fluid analysis for the
design of a prismatic gas cooled reactor. In addition, it is
envisaged that the excellence of the CORONA code will
also be highlighted in a high fidelity analysis combined
with a whole core neutron transport calculation.

NOMENCLATURE
Fig. 23. Predicted Maximum Temperature within Each Fuel ai = Influence coefficient at node i, defined in Eq. (5)
and Reflector Column of PMR 600 ai* = Rearranged influence coefficient of ai, used in Eq. (7)
aj = Coefficient for junction j, used in Eq. (20)
a0p = Influence coefficient at node P, defined in Eq. (5)
ap* = Rearranged influence coefficient of ap, used in Eq. (7)
As = Solid surface area [m2]
bj = Coefficient for junction j, used in Eq. (20)
bp = Source term for node P at temperature matrix,
used in Eq. (7)
cj = Coefficient for junction j, used in Eq. (20)
Cj = Resistance coefficient at fluid node j, defined in
Eq. (18)
Cs = Specific heat of solid [J/kg K]
dj = Coefficient for junction j, used in Eq. (20)
D = Hydraulic diameter [m]
ei = Source term for node i at pressure matrix, used in
Eq. (20)
f = Friction factor [-]
g = Gravitational acceleration constant [m/s2]
Fig. 24. Result of Parallel Computation Performance Test G = Parameter defined in Eq. (19)
Using PMR600 Problem h = Fluid enthalpy [J/kg]
Ii = Initiating junction of node i
kf = Thermal conductivity of fluid [W/m K]
6. CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK ks = Thermal conductivity of solid [W/m K]
K = Form loss factor [-]
The development of the CORONA code was started L = Fluid channel length [m]
in KAERI for the establishment of the key technologies N = Number of meshes
for the design of a prismatic VHTR. The CORONA code Nu = Nusselt number [-]
is targeted for a whole core thermo-fluid analysis of a P = Pressure [Pa]
prismatic gas cooled reactor with fast computation and Pr = Prandtl number [-]
reasonable accuracy. In order to achieve the target, the qs = Power density generated in solid [W/m3]
development of CORONA focused on (1) an efficient nu- qfconv = Convection heat transfer at fluid [W]
merical method using the combination of a three-dimen- qsconv = Convection heat transfer at solid [W]
sional heat conduction and one-dimensional fluid flow net- Q = Volumetric flow rate [m3/s]
work, (2) efficient grid generation using basic unit cells, and R = Gas constant of helium [J/kg K]
(3) parallel computing capability. Re = Reynolds number [-]
The results of the verification and validation studies sinon = Cross-diffusion term
show that the CORONA code can provide a reasonably t = Time [s]
accurate result for the thermo-fluid analysis of prismatic fuel Tf = Fluid temperature [K]

652 NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, VOL.46 NO.5 OCTOBER 2014

 TAK et al., Development of a Core Thermo-Fluid Analysis Code for Prismatic Gas Cooled Reactors
Ti = Terminating junction of node i
Ts = Solid temperature [K]
V = Volume [m3]
w = Fluid velocity [m/s]
z = One-dimensional coordinate
zc = Compressibility factor [-]
Greek
= Parameter defined in Eq. (22)
= Density [kg/m3]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by Nuclear R&D Program
of the National Research Foundation of Korea which is
grant funded by the Korean government (Grant code: NRF-
2012M2A8A2025679).
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