Editorial: Experimental and simulation research on nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics

The researches on nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics have achieved outstanding progresses in the past decades. In recent years, basic research on multiphase flow dynamics and corresponding measurement technology, as well as preliminary research on Gen IV reactors based on experiments and simulations are attracting more and more attention. However, the inside complicated physics and outside extreme conditions will also bring risks and challenges to the development of nuclear industry.

Prof. Liangming Pan from Chongqing University held the first annual academic meeting of the branch of Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics of Chinese Nuclear Society in October 2021. Several high-quality papers were selected from this conference. Therefore, Prof. Pan proposed the Research Topic “Experimental and Simulation Research on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics” in the journal Frontiers in Energy Research. This research topic aims to promote the novel experimental and numerical investigations on relevant issues refer to nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics, which is of great significance to the system optimization and safety evaluation of nuclear power plants. Finally, 14 articles were collected and published in this topic, covering the experimental and numerical research of thermal hydraulic problems in light water reactors to supercritical coolant reactors.