CFD-DEM Analysis of Floating Ice Accumulation and Dynamic Flow Interaction in a Coastal Nuclear Power Plant Pump House

A coupled CFD-DEM model was adopted to investigate the floating ice accumulation mechanism and its disturbance to the flow field in the pump house of coastal nuclear power plants in cold regions. Based on numerical simulations, the motion, accumulation, and flow interaction characteristics of floating ice under various release positions and heights were analyzed. The results indicate that the release height significantly governs the accumulation morphology and hydraulic response. The release height critically determines ice accumulation patterns and hydraulic responses. For inlet scenarios, lower heights induce a dense, wedge-shaped accumulation at the coarse trash rack, increasing thickness by 57.69% and shifting the accumulation 38.16% inlet-ward compared to higher releases. Conversely, higher releases enhance dispersion, expanding disturbances to the central pump house and intensifying flow heterogeneity. In bottom release cases, lower heights form wall-adhering accumulations, while higher releases cause ice to rise into mid-upper layers, thereby markedly intensifying local vortices (peak intensity 79.68, approximately 300% higher). Spatial release locations induce 2.7–4.8-fold variations in flow disturbance intensity across monitoring points. These findings clarify the combined impact of the release height and location on the ice accumulation and flow field dynamics, offering critical insights for the anti-ice design and flow safety assessment of pump houses.