scholarly journals Outcomes of the “steady-state crisis” experiment in the MIR reactor channel

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-212
Author(s):  
Aleksandr V. Alekseev ◽  
Oleg I. Dreganov ◽  
Aleksey L. Izhutov ◽  
Irina V. Kiseleva ◽  
Vitaly N. Shulimov

To license nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants, data on the behavior of fuel elements (FE) under design-basis accidents are required. These data are obtained during tests of fuel assemblies (FA) and single fuel elements in research reactor channels followed by post-test studies in protective chambers. A reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) with an unauthorized release of CPS rods from the reactor core leads to a pulsed channel power increase. This accident can proceed according to two scenarios: without a critical heat flux (CHF) on the fuel element jacket at the final stage and with a dry heat flux. To date, a series of experiments have been carried out according to the first scenario in the MIR reactor channel and the corresponding data on the behavior of fuel elements have been obtained. An urgent task for today is to prepare and conduct reactor experiments according to the second scenario. The main experimental parameter that determines the behavior and final state of the studied fuel elements is their temperature. No experimental data were found on the critical heat flux for the rod bundles in the low coolant mass flow rate region (experiments in the MIR reactor channel can be conducted in the range of 200–250 kg/(m2s)). The available data are in the extrapolation range. The “steady-state crisis” experiment was conducted to obtain data on the critical heat flux value within the specified coolant mass flow rate range in the MIR reactor channel. The test object was a jacket fuel assembly composed of three shortened VVER-1000 fuel rods with a length of 1230 mm (the fuel part length = 1000 mm) installed in a triangular grid at a pitch of 12.75 mm, which is a cell of the VVER-1000 core. This assembly configuration is used for in-pile tests to study the behavior of fuel elements under emergency conditions. The in-pile testing results are presented. The paper shows the possibility of detecting the start and development of a dry heat flux based on the readings of thermocouples located inside the FE kernel. As a result, the directly measured test parameters were used to determine the critical heat flux value.

Author(s):  
Sergio Escobar-Vargas ◽  
Jorge E. Gonzalez ◽  
Orlando Ruiz ◽  
Cullen Bash ◽  
Ratnesh Sharma ◽  
...  

The increasing power density on electronic components has resulted in temperature problems related to the generation of hot spots and the need to remove high heat flux in small areas. This work is aimed at the cooling of small surfaces (1 mm × 1.2 mm) by using a monodisperse spray from thermal ink jet (TIJ) atomizers. Heat fluxes near the critical heat flux (CHF) are obtained for different conditions of cooling mass flow rate, droplet deposition, and number of active droplet jets. Experimental results at quasiequilibrium show the heat flux scales to the cooling mass flow rate. It is observed that two simultaneously activated jets result in slightly smaller heat flux compared to a single jet of droplets for the same mass flow rate. Droplet momentum and spreading or splashing, as determined by a combination of Weber number and Reynolds number effect via K = We1/2Re1/4, may impact the efficiency of the delivery of the cooling mass flow. Current experimental results at K = 24.5 and K = 52.2 for the copper surface temperatures ranging 110 – 120 °C indicate there is little influence of the splashing on the heat dissipation. System heat losses are measured experimentally and compared to a numerical and analytical solution to estimate the actual heat dissipated by the droplet change of phase.


Author(s):  
Assunta Andreozzi ◽  
Vincenzo Naso ◽  
Oronzio Manca

In this study a numerical investigation of mixed convection in air in horizontal parallel walled channels with moving lower plate is carried out. The moving lower plate has a constant velocity and it is adiabatic, whereas the upper one is heated at uniform heat flux. The effects of horizontal channel height, heat flux and moving plate velocity are analyzed. Results in terms of temperature and stream function fields are given and the mass flow rate per unit of length and divided by the dynamic viscosity is reported as a function of Reynolds number based on the moving plate velocity. For stationary condition of lower plate, a typical C–loop inside the horizontal channel is detected. Different flow motions are observed in the channel and the two reservoirs, depending on the heat flux values and the distance between the heated upper stationary plate and lower adiabatic moving plate. The dimensionless induced mass flow rate presents different increase between the Reynolds number lower or greater than 1000.


Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Yang ◽  
Zhaohui Chen ◽  
Tang-Wei Kuo

Steady-state port flow simulations were carried out with a commercial three dimensional (3D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code using Cartesian mesh with cut cells to study the prediction accuracy. The accuracy is assessed by comparing predicted and measured mass-flow rate and swirl and tumble torques at various valve lifts using different boundary condition setup and mesh topology relative to port orientation. The measured data is taken from standard steady-state flow bench tests of a production intake port. The predicted mass-flow rates agree to within 1% with the measured data between the intermediate and high valve lifts. At low valve lifts, slight over prediction in mass-flow rate can be observed. The predicted swirl and tumble torques are within 25% of the flow bench measurements. Several meshing parameters were examined in this study. These include: inlet plenum shape and outlet plenum/extension size, embedded sphere with varying minimum mesh size, finer meshes on port and valve surface, orientation of valve and port centerline relative to the mesh lines. For all model orientations examined, only the mesh topology with the valve axis aligned closely with the mesh lines can capture the mass-flow rate drop for very high valve lifts due to flow separation. This study further demonstrated that it is possible to perform 3D CFD flow analyses to adequately simulate steady-state flow bench tests.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Yuan Liu ◽  
Ying-Huei Hung

Both experimental and theoretical investigations on the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics of compact cold plates have been performed. From the results, the local and average temperature rises on the cold plate surface increase with increasing chip heat flux or decreasing air mass flow rate. Besides, the effect of chip heat flux on the thermal resistance of cold plate is insignificant; while the thermal resistance of cold plate decreases with increasing air mass flow rate. Three empirical correlations of thermal resistance in terms of air mass flow rate with a power of −0.228 are presented. As for average Nusselt number, the effect of chip heat flux on the average Nusselt number is insignificant; while the average Nusselt number of the cold plate increases with increasing Reynolds number. An empirical relationship between Nu¯cp and Re can be correlated. In the flow frictional aspect, the overall pressure drop of the cold plate increases with increasing air mass flow rate; while it is insignificantly affected by chip heat flux. An empirical correlation of the overall pressure drop in terms of air mass flow rate with a power of 1.265 is presented. Finally, both heat transfer performance factor “j” and pumping power factor “f” decrease with increasing Reynolds number in a power of 0.805; while they are independent of chip heat flux. The Colburn analogy can be adequately employed in the study.


Author(s):  
Tao Fang ◽  
Satbir Singh

Steady-state port-flow simulations with static valve lift are often utilized to optimize the performance of intake system of an internal combustion engine. Generally, increase in valve lift results in higher mass flow rate through the valve. But in certain cases, mass flow rate can actually decrease with increased valve lift, caused by separation of turbulent flow at the valve-seat. Prediction of this phenomenon using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models is not trivial. It is found that the computational mesh significantly influences the simulation results. A series of steady-state port flow simulation are carried out using a commercial CFD code. Several mesh topologies are applied for the simulations. The predicted results are compared with available experimental data from flow bench measurements. It is found that the flow separation and reduction in mass flow rate with increased valve lift can be predicted when high mesh density is used in the proximity of the valve seat and the walls of the intake port. Higher mesh density also gives better predictions of mass flow rate compared to the experiments, but only for high valve lifts. For low valve lifts, the error in predicted flow rate is close to 13%.


Author(s):  
Basant K. Jha ◽  
Taiwo S. Yusuf

This paper presents MHD transient flow in an infinite vertical concentric annulus when the fluid is set in motion by free convection current occurring in the annulus as a result of application of isothermal heating on the inner surface of the outer cylinder while the outer surface of the inner cylinder is thermally insulated. The solution of the governing equations are obtained using the well-known Laplace transform technique while the Riemann-sum approximation method has been used to invert the solution from Laplace domain to time domain. The numerical values obtained using Riemann-sum approximation approach is validated by presenting a comparison with the values obtained using the implicit finite difference method as well as the steady-state solution. These comparisons with the steady state solution shows a remarkable agreement at large value of time. The effect of the governing parameters on the velocity field, temperature field, mass flow rate as well as the skin-friction on both surfaces of the annulus have been analysed and presented with the aid of line graph. Generally, we observed that the mass flow rate and skin friction at the isothermally heated surface increases with increase in radius ratio. However, the reverse is seen at the thermally insulated surface as the skin-friction decreases with increase in radius ratio.


Author(s):  
Dieter Bohn ◽  
Norbert Moritz ◽  
Michael Wolff

In this paper the results of experimental investigations are presented that were performed at the institute’s turbo charger test stand to determine the heat flux between the turbine and the compressor of a passenger car turbo charger. A parametric study has been performed varying the turbine inlet temperature and the mass flow rate. The aim of the analysis is to provide a relation of the Reynolds number at the compressor inlet and the heat flux from the turbine to the compressor with the turbine inlet temperature as the parameter. Thereto, the analysis of the local heat fluxes is necessary which is performed in a numerical conjugate heat transfer and flow analysis which is presented in part I of the paper. Beyond the measurements necessary to determine the operating point of compressor and turbine, the surface temperature of the casings were measured by resistance thermometers at different positions and by thermography. All measurement results were used as boundary conditions for the numerical simulation, i.e. the inlet and outlet flow conditions for compressor and turbine, the rotational speed, the oil temperatures and the temperature distribution on the outer casing surface of the turbo charger. The experimental results show that the total heat flux from turbine to compressor is mainly influenced by the turbine inlet temperature. The increase of the mass flow rate leads to a higher pressure ratio in the compressor so that the compressor casing temperature is increased. Due to the turbo charger’s geometry heat radiation has a small influence on the total heat flux.


2011 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 129-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanhtrung Dang ◽  
Ngoctan Tran ◽  
Jyh Tong Teng

The study was done both numerically and experimentally on the heat transfer behaviors of a microchannel heat sink. The solver of numerical simulations (CFD - ACE+software package) was developed by using the finite volume method. This numerical method was performed to simulate for an overall microchannel heat sink, including the channels, substrate, manifolds of channels as well as the covered top wall. Numerical results associated with such kinds of overall microchannel heat sinks are rarely seen in the literatures. For cases done in this study, a heat flux of 9.6 W/cm2was achieved for the microchannel heat sink having the inlet temperature of 25 °C and mass flow rate of 0.4 g/s with the uniform surface temperature of bottom wall of the substrate of 50 °C; besides, the maximum heat transfer effectiveness of this device reached 94.4%. Moreover, in this study, when the mass flow rate increases, the outlet temperature decreases; however, as the mass flow rate increases, the heat flux of this heat sink increases also. In addition, the results obtained from the numerical analyses were in good agreement with those obtained from the experiments as well as those from the literatures, with the maximum discrepancies of the heat fluxes estimated to be less than 6 %.


Author(s):  
Dan Huang ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Guo-Qiang Xu ◽  
Zhi Tao

A research on the heat transfer performance of kerosene flowing in a vertical upward tube at supercritical pressure is presented. In the experiments, insights are offered on the effects of the factors such as mass flow rate, heat flux and pressure. It is found that increasing the mass flow rate could enhance the heat transfer performances, while increasing the working pressure will deteriorate the heat transfer. Besides, the effect of heat flux on heat transfer is complicated. Based on the analysis of experimental data, enhancement of heat transfer occurs when the inner wall temperature of tube is higher than pseudo-critical temperature while the bulk fluid temperature is lower than the pseudo-critical temperature. At the supercritical conditions, heat transfer is influenced by the significant changes in thermo-physical properties, thus accurate evaluations of the thermo-physical properties become the key for the supercritical heat transfer calculations. The extended corresponding-state principle could be used for evaluating the density and the transport properties of kerosene, including its viscosity and thermal conductivity, at different temperatures and pressures. In order to obtain the numerical values of the heat capacity, a Soave–Redlich–Kwong (SRK) equation of state is used. The correlation for predicting heat transfer in kerosene at supercritical pressure is established, the calculation results from this correlation are in good agreement with the experimental results.


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