An Overview of the Microscopic Approaches to Thermal Hydraulics Computations of Fluid Transport Phenomena in Energy Exchanges
Hisashi Ninokata
This article presents an overview of the needs and applications of the methods that allow tracking and delineation of the mesoscopic and microscopic transport phenomena in industrial thermal hydraulics, in particular in heat exchangers and nuclear reactors. In parallel with a brief review of a wide spectrum of computational methods, ranging from those based on continuum mechanics to molecular dynamics, we take a cursory look at current practices in nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and relevant areas, and discuss future perspectives. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the microscopic approaches in modeling such physical processes as turbulence exchanges and interphase exchange phenomena in lumped parameter codes.