Investigation of Thermal-Hydraulic Field in the Annular Channel Around the Heated Wall of the Fuel Rod

Author(s):  
D. Lavicka ◽  
Y. Knapp ◽  
J. Polansky

Experimental measurement serves for investigation of temperature field in the annular flow channel along the heated wall of the fuel rod. Research focuses on the issue of heat transfer into the coolant at two-phase turbulent flow. Two-phase turbulent flow contains a large quantity of bubbles and, with heat transfer; it represents a very complex process. The annular flow depends on the application of spacers that affect the flow and temperature field in the flow channel at the fuel rod model. The fuel rod represents the fuel cluster in nuclear pressurized water reactor (PWR) of the VVER type.

Author(s):  
Leo A. Carrilho ◽  
Jamil Khan ◽  
Michael E. Conner ◽  
Abdel Mandour ◽  
Milorad B. Dzodzo

The effects of artificial roughness for the purpose of thermal performance improvement in pressurized water nuclear reactors are investigated. The artificial roughness consists of two-dimensional ribs parallel to the turbulent flow. The fuel rod bundle subchannel is preliminarily modeled as an annulus using the finite element method in ANSYS/FLOTRAN. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved from the SST (Shear Stress Transport) turbulence model for the simulated annulus thermal-flow. The analyses are performed for ribs dimensions and pitch provided by published previous work. It is found that, heat transfer and differential pressure have similar behavior with highest heat transfer occurring at the reattachment point. The finite element model describes well the characteristics of turbulent flow in smooth and rough rod when compared to previous semi-empirical models. Next paper extends the analysis by comparing numerical results with experimental test data and sensitivity analyses for different roughness configurations.


Author(s):  
Kang Liu ◽  
Titan C. Paul ◽  
Leo A. Carrilho ◽  
Jamil A. Khan

The experimental investigations were carried out of a pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR) with enhanced surface using different concentration (0.5 and 2.0 vol%) of ZnO/DI-water based nanofluids as a coolant. The experimental setup consisted of a flow loop with a nuclear fuel rod section that was heated by electrical current. The fuel rod surfaces were termed as two-dimensional surface roughness (square transverse ribbed surface) and three-dimensional surface roughness (diamond shaped blocks). The variation in temperature of nuclear fuel rod was measured along the length of a specified section. Heat transfer coefficient was calculated by measuring heat flux and temperature differences between surface and bulk fluid. The experimental results of nanofluids were compared with the coolant as a DI-water data. The maximum heat transfer coefficient enhancement was achieved 33% at Re = 1.15 × 105 for fuel rod with three-dimensional surface roughness using 2.0 vol% nanofluids compared to DI-water.


Author(s):  
Hiroshi Kanno ◽  
Youngbae Han ◽  
Yusuke Saito ◽  
Naoki Shikazono

Heat transfer in micro scale two-phase flow attracts large attention since it can achieve large heat transfer area per density. At high quality, annular flow becomes one of the major flow regimes in micro two-phase flow. Heat is transferred by evaporation or condensation of the liquid film, which are the dominant mechanisms of micro scale heat transfer. Therefore, liquid film thickness is one of the most important parameters in modeling the phenomena. In macro tubes, large numbers of researches have been conducted to investigate the liquid film thickness. However, in micro tubes, quantitative information for the annular liquid film thickness is still limited. In the present study, annular liquid film thickness is measured using a confocal method, which is used in the previous study [1, 2]. Glass tubes with inner diameters of 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 mm are used. Degassed water and FC40 are used as working fluids, and the total mass flux is varied from G = 100 to 500 kg/m2s. Liquid film thickness is measured by laser confocal displacement meter (LCDM), and the liquid-gas interface profile is observed by a high-speed camera. Mean liquid film thickness is then plotted against quality for different flow rates and tube diameters. Mean thickness data is compared with the smooth annular film model of Revellin et al. [3]. Annular film model predictions overestimated the experimental values especially at low quality. It is considered that this overestimation is attributed to the disturbances caused by the interface ripples.


Author(s):  
Suizheng Qiu ◽  
Minoru Takahashi ◽  
Guanghui Su ◽  
Dounan Jia

Water single-phase and nucleate boiling heat transfer were experimentally investigated in vertical annuli with narrow gaps. The experimental data about water single-phase flow and boiling two-phase flow heat transfer in narrow annular channel were accumulated by two test sections with the narrow gaps of 1.0mm and 1.5mm. Empirical correlations to predict the heat transfer of the single-phase flow and boiling two-phase flow in the narrow annular channel were obtained, which were arranged in the forms of the Dittus-Boelter for heat transfer coefficients in a single-phase flow and the Jens-Lottes formula for a boiling two-phase flow in normal tubes, respectively. The mechanism of the difference between the normal channel and narrow annular channel were also explored. From experimental results, it was found that the turbulent heat transfer coefficients in narrow gaps are nearly the same to the normal channel in the experimental range, and the transition Reynolds number from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow in narrow annuli was much lower than that in normal channel, whereas the boiling heat transfer in narrow annular gap was greatly enhanced compared with the normal channel.


Author(s):  
Avram Bar-Cohen ◽  
Ilai Sher ◽  
Emil Rahim

The present study is aimed at evaluating the ability of conventional “macro-pipe” correlations and regime transitions to predict the two-phase thermofluid characteristics of mini-channel cold plates. Use is made of the Taitel-Dukler flow regime maps, seven classical heat transfer coefficient correlations and two dryout predictions. The vast majority of the mini-channel two-phase heat-transfer data, taken from the literature, is predicted to fall in the annular regime, in agreement with the reported observations. A characteristic heat transfer coefficient locus has been identified, with a positive slope following the transition from Intermittent to Annular flow and a negative slope following the onset of partial dryout at higher qualities. While the classical two-phase heat transfer correlations are generally capable of providing good agreement with the low-quality annular flow data the quality at which partial dryout occurs and the ensuing heat transfer rates are not predictable by the available macro-pipe correlations.


Author(s):  
T. Netz ◽  
R. Shalem ◽  
J. Aharon ◽  
G. Ziskind ◽  
R. Letan

In the present study, incipient flow boiling of water is studied experimentally in a square-cross-section vertical channel. Water, preheated to 60–80 degrees Celsius, flows upwards. The channel has an electrically heated wall, where the heat fluxes can be as high as above one megawatt per square meter. The experiment is repeated for different water flow rates, and the maximum Reynolds number reached in the present study is 27,300. Boiling is observed and recorded using a high-speed digital video camera. The temperature field on the heated surface is measured with an infrared camera and a software is used to obtain quantitative temperature data. Thus, the recorded boiling images are analyzed in conjunction with the detailed temperature field. The dependence of incipient boiling on the flow and heat transfer parameters is established. For a flat wall, the results for various velocities and subcooling conditions agree well with the existing literature. Furthermore, three different wavy heated surfaces are explored, having the same pitch of 4mm but different amplitudes of 0.25mm, 0.5mm and 0.75mm. The effect of surface waviness on single-phase heat transfer and boiling incipience is shown. The differences in boiling incipience on various surfaces are elucidated, and the effect of wave amplitude on the results is discussed.


Author(s):  
Jason Chan ◽  
Brian E. Fehring ◽  
Roman W. Morse ◽  
Kristofer M. Dressler ◽  
Gregory F. Nellis ◽  
...  

Abstract A thermoreflectance method to measure wall temperature in two-phase annular flow is described. In high heat flux conditions, momentary dry-out occurs as the liquid film vaporizes, resulting in dramatic decreases in heat transfer coefficient. Simultaneous liquid and vapor thermoreflectance measurements allow calculations of instantaneous and time-averaged heat transfer coefficients. Validation, calibration and uncertainty of the technique are discussed.


Author(s):  
Tsutomu Ikeno ◽  
Tatsuya Sasakawa ◽  
Isao Kataoka

Numerical simulation code for predicting void distribution in two-phase turbulent flow in a sub-channel was developed. The purpose is to obtain a profile of void distribution in the sub-channel. The result will be used for predicting a heat flux at departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) in a rod bundle for the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The fundamental equations were represented by a generalized transport equation, and the transport equation was transformed onto the generalized coordinate system fitted to the rod surface and the symmetric lines in the sub-channel. Using the finite-volume method the transport equation was discretized for the SIMPLE algorism. The flow field and void fraction at the steady state were calculated for different average void fractions. The computational result for atmospheric pressure condition was successfully compared with experimental data. Sensitivity analysis for the PWR condition was performed, and the result showed that the secondary flow slightly contributed to homogenizing the void distribution.


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