  Numerical modeling simulations and the use of high-performance computing are
fundamental for detailed safety analysis, control and operation of a nuclear
reactor, allowing the study and analysis of problems related to
thermal-hydraulics, neutronic, and the dynamic of fluids that are involved in
these systems. In this work, we introduce the basis for the implementation of
the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach to analyze heat transfer in
a nuclear reactor core. Heat transfer by means of convection is of great
importance in many engineering applications and especially in the analysis of
heat transfer in nuclear reactors. As a first approach, the natural convection
in the gap (space that exists between the fuel rod and the cladding) can be
analyzed helping to reduce uncertainty in such calculations that usually relies
on empirical correlations while using other numerical tools. The numerical
method developed in this work was validated while comparing the results
obtained in previous numerical simulations and experimental data reported in
the literature showing that our implementation is suitable for the study of
heat transfer in nuclear reactors. Numerical simulations were done with the
DualSPHysics open source code that allows performing parallel calculations
using different numbers of cores. The current implementation is a version
written in CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) that allows also the use
of GPU processors (Graphics Processor Unit) to accelerate the calculations in
parallel using a large number of cores contained in the GPU. This makes it
possible to analyze large systems using a reasonable computer time. The
obtained results verified and validated our method and allowed us to have a
strong solver for future applications of heat transfer in nuclear reactors fuel
inside the reactor cores.
