SUMMARY

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) powered engine is a feasible technology for the upcoming human mission to Mars and beyond. Therefore, developing and implementing a computational methodology to accurately model NTP’s reactor components is of uttermost importance to further promote this technology. A conventional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation provides high-resolution thermal-hydraulic (T/H) results, but the calculation time and resources may be prohibitive especially if such methods are applied to study the full core performance. A balance must be struck between the computational costs and the resolution needs of the simulation. This proposal discusses the development of a coarse-mesh-based T/H module for NTP full core simulation using the OpenFOAM finite volume package. The numerical methodology relies on the porous medium approach in conjunction with a finite difference method to model propellent/coolant flow in various reactor sub-elements. The T/H module will be built upon an existing reactor multi-physics solver, GeN-Foam, to enable T/H – neutronic coupling capability. The end product, denoted here as GeN-FoamNTP, will have the flexibility to analyze various core design patterns. More importantly, the simulation package is envisioned to act as a complement to experimental efforts. Finally, as the computational methodology is implemented within an existing Gen-Foam multi-physics framework, the inclusion of thermo-mechanics is also possible.