Onset of flow instability with one-side heated swirl tube for fusion reactor safety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Hwan Lim ◽  
Su Won Lee ◽  
Hoongyo Oh ◽  
Minkyu Park ◽  
Donkoan Hwang ◽  
...  

Abstract In this study, the onset of flow instability (OFI) heat flux of a one-side heated swirl tube is experimentally investigated. The OFI heat flux means the minimum heat flux that can cause flow instability by the vapor generated in the flow path. An analysis of the effect of system parameters on the OFI heat flux indicates that as the pressure increases, the bubble size decreases. Therefore, the void fraction decreases and, consequently, the OFI heat flux tends to increase. Similarly, the higher the flow rate and degree of subcooling, the faster the vapor can be removed; thus, the OFI heat flux increases. In addition, the prediction performances of the existing OFI correlations developed under the subcooled flow-boiling condition are evaluated. Therefore, although the Wang correlation indicates the lowest error rate, it yields a high mean absolute error rate of 87.75%. Thus, it is difficult to predict the OFI heat flux of a one-side heated swirl tube using the existing OFI correlations. Therefore, in this study, a new correlation is developed using a Python code created by employing an artificial intelligence regression method. The developed correlation incorporates the impact of one-side heating, swirl tape, mass flow rate, subcooling, and pressure (mean absolute error = 12.17%, root mean square error = 14.99%).

Author(s):  
Hongsheng Yuan ◽  
Sichao Tan ◽  
Kun Cheng ◽  
Xiaoli Wu ◽  
Chao Guo ◽  
...  

The flow rate can fluctuate in offshore nuclear power systems which are exposed to wind and waves, as well as in loops where flow instabilities occur, resulting in different thermal-hydraulic characteristics compared with that under steady flow. Among the thermal-hydraulic characteristics, onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) model determines whether the fluid is boiling, and boiling heat transfer is crucial to equipment performance and safety, both being key issues in subcooled flow boiling. Therefore, an experimental study was conducted to investigate how an imposed periodic flow oscillation affects the boiling inception and heat transfer of subcooled flow boiling of water in a vertical tube. The experiments were conducted under atmospheric pressure with the average flow rate ranging from 96kg/m2s to 287kg/m2s and heat flux ranging from 10kW/m2 to 197kW/m2. The relative pulsatile amplitude range is 0.1–0.3 and pulsatile period range is 10s-30s. Photographic images and thermal parameters such as temperatures and flow rate were recorded. The lack of nucleation site on the heated surface of the test section results in high wall superheat at ONB. The effects of pulsatile amplitude and period on superheat at boiling onset and average heat transfer were analyzed. The results show that the superheat at boiling inception is decreased when the average heat flux is lower than the heat flux at boiling inception of the corresponding steady flow, and the superheat at boiling onset is increased when the average heat flux is higher than the heat flux at boiling onset of the corresponding steady flow. The above effect of flow rate pulsation on superheat increases with increasing amplitude and decreasing period, and the mechanism can be explained by boiling nucleation theory. The lack of large active nucleation site also affects the boiling heat transfer. By comparing the contribution of nucleate boiling to heat transfer with the widely used Cooper’s pool boiling correlation, the subcooled flow boiling was found suppressed by convection. The average heat transfer of both the intermittent flow boiling and the single phase flow is influenced by flow oscillation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
M. M. Sarafraz ◽  
H. Arya

The subcooled flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of n-heptane and water is conducted for an upward flow inside the vertical annulus with an inner gap of 30 mm, in different heat fluxes up to 132kW.m-2, subcooling max.:30C, flow rate: 1.5 to 3.5lit.min-1 under the atmospheric pressure. The measured data indicate that the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficient significantly increases with increasing liquid flow rate and heat flux and slightly decreases with decreasing the subcooling level. Although results demonstrate that subcooling is the most effective operation parameter on onset of nucleate boiling such that with decreasing the subcooling level, the inception heat flux significantly decreases. Besides, recorded results from the visualization of flow show that the mean diameter of the bubbles departing from the heating surface decreases slightly with increasing the flow rate and slightly decreases with decreasing the subcooling level. Meanwhile, comparisons of the present heat transfer data for n-heptane and water in the same annulus and with some existing correlations are investigated. Results of comparisons reveal an excellent agreement between experimental data and those of calculated by Chen Type model and Gungor–Winterton predicting correlation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sai Raja Gopal Vadlamudi ◽  
Arun K. Nayak

Abstract Subcooled flow boiling is widely used as a mode of heat transfer in many industries, especially in nuclear reactors. Despite its advantages, the heat transfer is hampered beyond a certain flux due to a phenomenon known as departure from nucleate boiling (DNB). It is important to determine the void fraction profiles, especially the near-wall void fractions, to evaluate the limiting heat flux conditions. The two-fluid Eulerian model, coupled with the heat flux partitioning model, is widely used to predict subcooled flow boiling characteristics. Over the years, many researchers have not considered lift and wall lubrication forces in their modeling of subcooled flow boiling. Few researchers have considered the Tomiyama model for lift force; however, their results were not encouraging. Moreover, there is no systematic study in evaluating the impact of lift and wall lubrication forces on subcooled flow boiling. In this paper, various lift and wall lubrication models are compared to understand the implications of these forces on void distribution. The advantages and limitations of the models are discussed in detail.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Franz ◽  
Axel Sielaff ◽  
Peter Stephan

AbstractFor the present study numerical simulations of subcooled flow boiling of FC-72 in microgravity have been conducted to accompany boiling experiments performed in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS). The numerical domain represents the geometry of the experimental test cell. For all simulations the open source framework OpenFOAM was employed, including extensions to the interFoam solver, which have been developed at the authors’ institute. A reference case has been defined applying intermediate values from the experimental parameter range as system parameters. This case has been examined thoroughly with regards to hydrodynamic phenomena and heat transfer during multiple, successive bubble cycles. Based on this reference case, the system parameters flow velocity, input heat flux, pre-heating time, and subcooling of the liquid bulk have been varied, and the impact of these quantities on bubble growth and movement as well as heat transfer have been studied. It was found, that an increased flow rate as well as increased subcooling lead to smaller bubbles and increased time between subsequent nucleations. A high input heat flux, an increased pre-heating time, and a decreased subcooling lead to a rapid cycle of bubble nucleation and coalescence.


Author(s):  
Kan Zhou ◽  
Junye Li ◽  
Zhao-zan Feng ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Hua Zhu ◽  
...  

For improving the functionality and signal speed of electronic devices, electronic components have been miniaturized and an increasing number of elements have been packaged in the device. As a result there has been a steady rise in the amount of heat necessitated to be dissipated from the electronic device. Recently microchannel heat sinks have been emerged as a kind of high performance cooling scheme to meet the heat dissipation requirement of electronics packaging, In the present study an experimental study of subcooled flow boiling in a high-aspect-ratio, one-sided heating rectangular microchannel with gap depth of 0.52 mm and width of 5 mm was conducted with deionized water as the working fluid. In the experimental operations, the mass flux was varied from 200 to 400 kg/m2s and imposed heat flux from 3 to 20 W/cm2 while the fluid inlet temperature was regulated constantly at 90 °C. The boiling curves, flow pattern and onset of nucleate boiling of subcooled flow boiling were investigated through instrumental measurements and a high speed camera. It was found that the slope of the boiling curves increased sharply once the superheat needed to initiate the onset of nucleate boiling was attained, and the slope was greater for lower mass fluxes, with lower superheat required for boiling incipience. As for the visualization images, for relatively lower mass fluxes the bubbles generated were larger and not easy to depart from the vertical upward placed narrow microchannel wall, giving elongated bubbly flow and reverse backflow. The thin film evaporation mechanism dominated the entire test section due to the elongated bubbles and transient local dryout as well as rewetting occurred. Meanwhile the initiative superheat and heat flux of onset of nucleate boiling were compared with existing correlations in the literature with good agreement.


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