Extrapolating Phenomena Observed with Carbon Dioxide to Supercritical Water Reactor Conditions

In the present paper, Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) fuel rod cooling conditions are addressed by a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model, in the light of the phenomena observed in experiments performed with carbon dioxide as a surrogate fluid. The discussion aims at highlighting how the interesting phenomena observed in these experiments may compare to those expected in actual reactor conditions. Making use of a fluid-to-fluid similarity theory recently developed by the authors for heat transfer applications and of the mentioned CFD model, possible counterpart experiments to be performed with carbon dioxide are envisaged, comparing them with the predictions obtained for water and drawing conclusions on their meaningfulness in view of SCWR behaviour prediction.