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The authors acknowledge ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas S.A., S.M.E for the financial and technical support of this research project.

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Benavides, JulioAuthorJimenez, GonzaloCorresponding AuthorLopez, SantiagoAuthor

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Modeling and results of the dry cask simulator (DCS) with STAR-CCM

Publicated to:Nuclear Engineering And Design. 369 (110820): - 2020-12-01 369(110820), DOI: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2020.110820

Authors: Benavides, Julio; Jimenez, Gonzalo; Lopez, Santiago; Galban, Marta; Lloret, Miriam;

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Abstract

To understand the behavior of commercial nuclear fuel during its storage phase in spent fuel dry storage casks, simulations are necessary and to validate the simulation models, full-scale experiments are required. Therefore, an experimental facility called the dry cask simulator (DCS) was built in Sandia National Laboratories with the purpose of producing validation-quality data that can be used to test the accuracy of the modeling used to determine cladding temperatures in modern vertical dry casks. The DCS has been created under the framework of the Extended Storage Collaboration Programme (ESCP), coordinated by EPRI. The ultimate goal of the DCS was to study the thermal-hydraulic response of a single boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel assembly under variety of heat loads, internal vessel pressures, and external configurations. In this article, the simulations conducted by ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas S.A., S.M.E and UPM (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain) using STAR-CCM+ are validated against the experiments conducted at Sandia National Laboratories. In order to validate the simulation models several sensitivity analyses have been performed: a grid convergence index to estimate the discretization error in the simulations, a turbulence model sensitivity for the inner part of the cask, and three different approaches to model the fuel assembly: Case 1 (model with no spacers and no bottom tie plate), Case 2 (model with spacers and no bottom tie plate and Case 3 (model with spacers and bottom tie plate). Additionally, a thermal-hydraulic analysis is also presented, not only to explain the difference between the three ways to model the fuel assembly, but also to obtain a better understanding of the behavior of the dry cask according to pressure and heat output changes. Among the three cases, the simplest model (Case 1) has proven to obtain the most accurate results, being able to predict the temperature distribution in the fuel assembly and the air mass flow compared to the experiment measurements for all four cases of study. Meanwhile, the two other cases have shown that for steady state solutions the spacers and the bottom tie plate are not necessary and can introduce unwanted errors. Nonetheless, all cases have provided insight into the behavior of a dry storage cask system under different conditions showing the different heat transfer mechanisms interactions.

Keywords

BwrCfdDry storage caskNuclear spent fuelPctStar-ccmStar-ccm+Storage

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Nuclear Engineering And Design due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-06-02:

  • WoS: 2
  • Scopus: 6
  • OpenCitations: 5

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-02:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 10 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (BENAVIDES RODRIGUEZ, JULIO) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been JIMENEZ VARAS, GONZALO.