Forced and Mixed Convection Heat Transfer at High Pressure and High Temperature in a Graphite Flow Channel

High pressure/high temperature forced and mixed convection experiments have been performed with helium and nitrogen at temperatures and pressures up to 893 K and 64 bar, respectively. The test section had a 16.8 mm ID flow channel in a 108 mm OD graphite column. Flow regimes included turbulent, transitional, and laminar flows with the inlet Reynolds numbers ranging from 1500 to 15,000. Due to strong heating, the local Reynolds number decreased by up to 50% over the 2.7 m test section. In addition, heat transfer degradation and flow laminarization caused by intense heating led to Nusselt numbers 20–50% lower than the values given by the modified Dittus–Boelter and modified Gnielinski correlations. Flow laminarization criteria were considered based on a dimensionless acceleration parameter (Kv) and buoyancy parameter (Bo*). Upward turbulent flows displayed higher wall temperatures than downward flows, due to the impact of flow laminarization which is not expected to affect buoyancy-opposed flows. Laminar Reynolds number flows presented an opposite behavior due to the enhancement of heat transfer for buoyancy-aided flows. At low Reynolds numbers, downward flows displayed higher and lower wall temperatures in the upstream and downstream regions, respectively, than the upward flow cases. In the entrance region of downward flows, convection heat transfer was reduced due to buoyancy leading to higher wall temperatures, while in the downstream region, buoyancy-induced mixing caused higher convection heat transfer and lower wall temperatures.

Experimental Investigation of Flow Laminarization in a Graphite Flow Channel at High Pressure and High Temperature

Hot wire anemometer (HWA) measurements of turbulent gas flow have been performed in upward forced convection experiments at pressures ranging from 0.6 MPa to 6.3 MPa and fluid temperatures ranging from 293 K to 673 K. The results are relevant to deteriorated turbulent heat transfer (DTHT) and flow laminarization in strongly heated gas flows which could occur in gas-cooled very high temperature reactors (VHTRs).2 The HWA signals were analyzed to directly confirm the occurrence of flow laminarization phenomenon due to strong heating. An X-probe was used to collect radial and axial velocity fluctuation data for pressurized air and pure nitrogen flowing through a circular 16.8 mm diameter flow channel in a 2.7 m long graphite test section for local Reynolds numbers varying from 500 to 22,000. Analyses of the Reynolds stresses and turbulence frequency spectra were carried out and used as indicators of laminar, transition, or fully turbulent flow conditions. Low Reynolds stresses indicated the existence of laminar or transitional flow until the local Reynolds number reached a large value, ∼11,000 to 16,000, much higher than the conventional Re = 4000–5000 for transition to fully turbulent flow encountered in pipe flows. The critical Reynolds number indicating the completion of transition approximately doubled as the pressure was increased from 0.6 MPa to 2.8 MPa.

Experimental Investigation of Flow Laminarization in a Graphite Flow Channel at High Pressure and High Temperature

Hot wire anemometer (HWA) measurements of turbulent gas flow have been performed in upward forced convection experiments at pressures ranging from 0.6 MPa to 6.3 MPa and fluid temperatures ranging from 293 K to 673 K. The results are relevant to deteriorated turbulent heat transfer (DTHT) and flow laminarization in strongly heated gas flows which could occur in gas-cooled Very High Temperature Reactors. The HWA signals were analyzed to directly confirm the occurrence of flow laminarization phenomenon due to strong heating. An X-probe was used to collect radial and axial velocity fluctuation data for pressurized air and pure nitrogen flowing through a circular 16.8 mm diameter flow channel in a 2.7 m long graphite test section for local Reynolds numbers varying from 500 to 22,000. Analyses of the Reynolds stresses and turbulence frequency spectra were carried out and used as indicators of laminar, transition or fully turbulent flow conditions. Low Reynolds stresses indicated the existence of laminar or transitional flow until the local Reynolds number reached a large value, ∼11,000 to 16,000, much higher than the conventional Re = 4,000–5,000 for transition to fully turbulent flow encountered in pipe flows. The critical Reynolds number indicating the completion of transition approximately doubled as the pressure was increased from 0.6 MPa to 2.8 MPa.