Abstract: The thermal-hydraulic behaviors of the PWR 4×4 small assembly tested in the high temperature and high pressure loop of China Advanced Research Reactor were analyzed. The CFD method was used to carry out 3D simulation of the model, thus detailed thermal-hydraulic parameters were obtained. Firstly, the simplified model was simulated to give the 3D temperature and velocity distributions and analyze the heat transfer process. Then the whole scale small assembly model was simulated and the simulation results were compared with those of simplified rod bundle model. Its flow behavior was studied and flow mixing characteristics of the grids were analyzed, and the mixing factor of the grid was calculated and can be used for further thermal-hydraulic study. It is shown that the highest temperature of the fuel rod meets the design limit and the mixing effect of the grid is obvious.