RANS based CFD methodology for a real scale 217-pin wire-wrapped fuel assembly of KAERI PGSFR

•This paper presents a suitable way for a practical RANS based CFD methodology which is applicable to real scale 217-pin wire-wrapped fuel assembly of KAERI PGSFR.•A key point of differentiation of the RANS based CFD methodology in this study is adapting an innovative grid generation method using a fortran based in-house code with a GGI function in a general-purpose commercial CFD code, CFX.•The RANS based CFD methodology is implemented with high resolution scheme and SST turbulence model in the 7-pin 37-pin, and 127-pin wire-wrapped fuel assembly of PNC and JNC. Furthermore, the RANS based CFD methodology can be successfully extended to the real scale 217-pin wire-wrapped fuel bundles of KAERI PGSFR.•Three-dimensional thermal-hydraulic characteristics have been also investigated briefly.