The Corrected Simulation Method of Critical Heat Flux Prediction for Water-Cooled Divertor Based on Euler Homogeneous Model

An accurate critical heat flux (CHF) prediction method is the key factor for realizing the steady-state operation of a water-cooled divertor that works under one-sided high heating flux conditions. An improved CHF prediction method based on Euler's homogeneous model for flow boiling combined with realizable k- model for single-phase flow is adopted in this paper in which time relaxation coefficients are corrected by the Hertz-Knudsen formula in order to improve the calculation accuracy of vapor-liquid conversion efficiency under high heating flux conditions. Moreover, local large differences of liquid physical properties due to the extreme nonuniform heating flux on cooling wall along the circumference direction are revised by formula IAPWS-IF97. Therefore, this method can improve the calculation accuracy of heat and mass transfer between liquid phase and vapor phase in a CHF prediction simulation of water-cooled divertors under the one-sided high heating condition. An experimental example is simulated based on the improved and the uncorrected methods. The simulation results, such as temperature, void fraction and heat transfer coefficient, are analyzed to achieve the CHF prediction. The results show that the maximum error of CHF based on the improved method is 23.7%, while that of CHF based on uncorrected method is up to 188%, as compared with the experiment results of Ref. [12]. Finally, this method is verified by comparison with the experimental data obtained by International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), with a maximum error of 6% only. This method provides an efficient tool for the CHF prediction of water-cooled divertors.