Numerical Investigation of Supercritical Water Flow in a 2x2 Rod Bundle Under Non-Uniform Heat Flux

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Rowinski ◽  
Yeng Ch. Soh ◽  
Timothy J. White ◽  
Ching Ch. Chieng ◽  
Jiyun Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Supercritical Water ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Uniform Heat Flux ◽  
Fuel Channel ◽  
Fuel Rod ◽  
Uniform Heat

Generation III/III+ nuclear reactors operate with working fluid under subcritical conditions (Tc = 647K, pc = 22.115MPa). The efficiency, limited by the ratio of source and sink temperatures, is restricted by operating below the critical temperature. The supercritical water reactors (SCWRs) are able to rise efficiency limit while operating at the supercritical conditions. The amount of energy carried by working fluid is higher leading to potential efficiency improvement of nearly 30% above current nuclear stations. Therefore, rendering nuclear energy as one of the most efficient decarbonized electrical energy sources with efficiency of 45% and capacity factor of ca. 90%. Typical capacity factors of competing wind turbines and solar PV cells reaches 45% and 15% while the efficiencies 50% and 45%, respectively. In a subcritical reactor a uniform heat flux is generated due to relatively constant fuel moderation. However, due to a change of density during transition from sub- to supercritical conditions, the fuel moderation is uneven along the fuel rod and results in a non-uniform heat generation. The literature on SCWR neutronics suggests higher heat generation at the fuel channel entrance. In this paper we simulated for the first time such non-uniform heat flux generated in a SCWR, we analyze the impacts of such flux on the working medium flow and suggest ways to mitigate negative impacts of non-uniform heat flux. The study was conducted with use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. Obtained results show that the shape of heat flux curve along the channel highly influences the wall temperature distribution along the fuel channel. The differences in maximum wall temperatures can be up to 200K for different curve’s shape. Moreover, the maximum wall temperature is always higher than in default case i.e. when uniform heat flux is applied. It is possible to control the wall temperature distribution by adjusting the shape of heat flux along the axis. Such adjustment can be made by using different enrichment levels along the fuel rod axis, unfortunately any change in power distribution caused rapid temperature increase at the upstream location.

The Temperature Distribution Within a Sphere Placed in a Directed Uniform Heat Flux and Allowed to Radiatively Cool

1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Temperature Field ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Analytic Solution ◽  
Blackbody Radiation ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Uniform Heat Flux ◽  
Transform Methods ◽  
Uniform Heat ◽  
Large Heat

The temperature field within a sphere is found when the sphere is heated by a directed heat flux and cooled by blackbody radiation. For small heat fluxes, the analytic solution is obtained by transform methods. For large heat fluxes, the solution is computed numerically.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Natural Convection in Horizontal Channels Partially Filled With Aluminium Foam and Heated From Below

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Buonomo ◽  
Oronzio Manca ◽  
Sergio Nardini ◽  
Alessandra Diana
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Natural Convection ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Aluminum Foam ◽  
Rectangular Channel ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Heated Wall ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Bottom Plate ◽  
Uniform Heat Flux

Natural convection in horizontal rectangular channel without or with aluminum foam is experimentally and numerically investigated. In the case with aluminum foam the channel is partially filled. In both cases, the bottom wall of the channel is heated at a uniform heat flux and the upper wall is unheated and it is not thermally insulated to the external ambient. The experiments are performed with working fluid air. Different values of wall heat flux at lower surface are considered in order to obtain some Grashof numbers and different heated wall temperature distributions. Two different aluminum foams are considered in the experimental investigation, one from “M-pore”, with 10 and 30 pore per inch (PPI), and the other one from “ERG”, with 10, 20 and 40 PPI. The numerical simulation is carried out by a simplified two-dimensional model. It is found that the heat transfer is better when the channel is partially filled and the emissivity is low, whereas the heated wall temperature values are higher when the channel is partially filled and the heated bottom plate has high emissivity. The investigation is achieved also by flow visualization which is carried out to identify the main flow shape and development and the transition region along the channel. The visualization of results, both experimental and numerical, grants the description of secondary motions in the channel.

Effect of Bonding Structure and Heater Design on Performance Enhancement of FEEDS Embedded Manifold-Microchannel Cooling

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bae ◽  
Raphael Mandel ◽  
Michael Ohadi
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Uniform Heat Flux ◽  
High Heat Flux ◽  
Bonding Structure ◽  
Uniform Heat ◽  
Manifold Microchannel

This work presents the design and characterization of a two-phase, embedded manifold-microchannel (MMC) system for cooling of high heat flux electronics. The study uses a thin-Film Evaporation and Enhanced fluid Delivery System (FEEDS) MMC cooler for high heat flux cooling of electronics. The work builds upon our group’s earlier work in this area with a particular focus on the use of an improved bonding structure and implementation of uniform heat flux heaters that collectively contribute to enhanced performance of the system. In many MMC systems targeted for high heat flux applications microchannels and manifolds are fabricated separately due to different dimensions and tolerances required for each. However, assembly of the system often leaves a gap between the channels and the manifold, thus causing the working fluid to leak through the top of the microfins leading to decreased cooler performance. The effect of this gap is parametrized and analyzed with ANSYS Fluent CFD simulations and discussed in this paper. The findings show that even a few microns wide gap can cause a noticeable degradation of the MMC system performance. Imperfect assembly and the deformation of a microchannel chip due to working fluid pressure can cause gaps, indicating the necessity of uniform and hermetic bonding between the manifold and the tips of the microfins. Furthermore, this work presents the need for better heater designs to enable uniform and high heat flux to the heat transfer surface. Serpentine heaters are often used to mimic electronics in a laboratory environment, but there is a lack of study on the performance characterization of the heaters themselves. In the current work, the performance of a conventional serpentine heater is characterized using ANSYS thermo-electric modeling software. The results show that conventional serpentine heaters are insufficient at providing uniform heat flux in applications where there is a lack of heat spreading-such as in the current embedded cooler — showing deviations ranging over 200 % of the nominal value. The deviations are caused by the many bends present in a serpentine pattern where current density concentrations vary significantly. Two alternate designs are proposed, and numerical simulations show that these new heater designs are capable of providing uniform heat flux, not deviating more than 20% from the nominal heat flux value. The conventional and newly proposed heaters are fabricated, tested, and analyzed with a working FEEDS system.

Three Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Gas Heat Transfer in Rectangular Microchannels

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohong Yan ◽  
Qiuwang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Boundary Condition ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Uniform Heat Flux ◽  
Flux Boundary Condition ◽  
Uniform Heat ◽  
Heat Flux Boundary Condition

Rectangular microchannel is the typical component of the micro heat exchangers and micro heat sinks. Three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved for gas flow and heat transfer in microchannels under uniform heat flux boundary condition. The numerical methodology is based on the control volume SIMPLE scheme. It is found that the heat removal characteristic for compressible flow is better than the incompressible flow and it is not suitable to use conventionally defined Nu to measure the heat transfer characteristic for compressible heat transfer. The effect of the aspect ratio (width to height) on the cross-sectional averaged wall temperature and the Nu is negligible under the uniform heat flux boundary condition. However, the local uniformity of the wall temperature is significantly influenced by the aspect ratio. The square cross-section exhibits the best local uniformity of the wall temperature.

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