Comparison between DNS and RANS approaches for liquid metal flows around a square rod bundle

The thermal-hydraulic characteristics of liquid metal flows around rod bundles are of great interest for the research and design of fourth generation nuclear reactors. Currently, a large research effort is aimed at the development of accurate numerical models for low Prandtl number fluid flows, since the data available in the literature are quite scarce. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) is undoubtedly the most accurate approach, but its large requirements of computational resources and time make it less practical than other simplified methods such as the Reynolds-Average Navier Stokes (RANS) approach. The present paper provides a comparison between numerical results of a flow of liquid Lead-Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) at Pr=0.031 around four vertical cylindrical rods arranged in a square lattice, obtained by DNS and RANS. Several turbulence models are considered, including the standard k-ϵ, k-ω SST, and two Reynolds stress models, namely the ones by Launder, Reece and Rodi (LRR), and Speziale, Sarkar and Gatski (SSG). The accuracy of these models is assessed by comparing the mean Nusselt number, the pressure drop, and local field distributions with those obtained by DNS.