# Engineering Mechanics

Proceedings Vol. 32 (2026)

ENGINEERING MECHANICS 2026

Copyright © 2026 Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

 

Janský V., Duda D., Uruba V., Yanovych V.
pages 57 - 60, full text

This document describes the exploration of isothermal flow in nuclear fuel assembly performed at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. The spacer and mixing grids of the model fuel assembly are similar to the basic grids used at the VVER (vodo-vodjanoj energetičeskij reaktor), i.e. there are alternating nodes of circle shape and of tri-star shape. The tri-star is modified to create a swirling element, which produce longi- tudinal vortices in each even inter-rod channel. The fluctuation anisotropy coefficient F displays anisotropic turbulence almost everywhere. This analysis shows a significant contribution of the boundary layers formed at the fuel rods, because the turbulence in the vortex envelopes cannot evolve into full homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.

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