Numerical investigation of two- and three-dimensional heat transfer in expander cycle engines

The concept of using tube canting for enhancing the hot-side convective heat transfer in a cross-stream tubular rocket combustion chamber is evaluated using a CFD technique in this study. The heat transfer at the combustor wall is determined from the flow field generated by a modified version of the PARC Navier-Stokes Code, using the actual dimensions, fluid properties, and design parameters of a split-expander demonstrator cycle engine. The effects of artificial dissipation on convergence and solution accuracy are investigated. Heat transfer results predicted by the code are presented. The use of CFD in heat transfer calculations is critically examined to demonstrate the care needed in the use of artificial dissipation for good convergence and accurate solutions

Measurement of intact-core length of atomizing liquid jets by image deconvolution

The investigation of liquid jet breakup and spray development is critical to the understanding of combustion phenomena in liquid propellant rocket engines. Much work has been done to characterize low-speed liquid jet breakup and dilute sprays, but atomizing jets and dense sprays have yielded few quantitative measurements due to their high liquid load fractions and hence their optical opacity. Focus was on a characteristic of the primary breakup process of round liquid jets, namely the length of the intact-liquid core. The specific application considered is that of shear-coaxial-type rocket engine injectors in which liquid oxygen is injected through the center post while high velocity gaseous hydrogen is injected through a concentric annulus, providing a shear force to the liquid jet surface. Real-time x ray radiography, capable of imaging through the dense two-phase region surrounding the liquid core, is used to make the measurements. The intact-liquid-core length data were obtained and interpreted using two conceptually different methods to illustrate the effects of chamber pressure, gas-to-liquid momentum ratio, and cavitation

CHF Enhancement by Vessel Coating for External Reactor Vessel Cooling

In-vessel retention (IVR) is a key severe accident management (SAM) strategy that has been adopted by some operating nuclear power plants and advanced light water reactors (ALWRs). One viable means for IVR is the method of external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) by flooding of the reactor cavity during a severe accident. As part of a joint Korean – United States International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (K-INERI), an experimental study has been conducted to investigate the viability of using an appropriate vessel coating to enhance the critical heat flux (CHF) limits during ERVC. Toward this end, transient quenching and steady-state boiling experiments were performed in the SBLB (Subscale Boundary Layer Boiling) facility at Penn State using test vessels with micro-porous aluminum coatings. Local boiling curves and CHF limits were obtained in these experiments. When compared to the corresponding data without coatings, substantial enhancement in the local CHF limits for the case with surface coatings was observed. Results of the steady state boiling experiments showed that micro-porous aluminum coatings were very durable. Even after many cycles of steady state boiling, the vessel coatings remained rather intact, with no apparent changes in color or structure. Moreover, the heat transfer performance of the coatings was found to be highly desirable with an appreciable CHF enhancement in all locations on the vessel outer surface but with very little effect of aging

Film Boiling on Downward Quenching Hemisphere of Varying Sizes

Film boiling heat transfer coefficients for a downward-facing hemispherical surface are measured from the quenching tests in DELTA (Downward-boiling Experimental Laminar Transition Apparatus). Two test sections are made of copper to maintain low Biot numbers. The outer diameters of the hemispheres are 120 mm and 294 mm, respectively. The thickness of all the test sections is 30 mm. The effect of diameter on film boiling heat transfer is quantified utilizing results obtained from the test sections. The measured data are compared with the numerical predictions from laminar film boiling analysis. The measured heat transfer coefficients are found to be greater than those predicted by the conventional laminar flow theory on account of the interfacial wavy motion incurred by the Helmholtz instability. Incorporation of the wavy motion model considerably improves the agreement between the experimental and numerical results in terms of heat transfer coefficient. In addition, the interfacial wavy motion and the quenching process are visualized through a digital camera

Prandtl Number Dependent Natural Convection with Internal Heat Sources

Natural convection plays an important role in determining the thermal load from debris accumulated in the reactor vessel lower head during a severe accident. Recently, attention is being paid to the feasibility of external vessel flooding as a severe accident management strategy and to the phenomena affecting the success path for retaining the molten core material inside the vessel. The heat transfer inside the molten core material can be characterized by the strong buoyancy-induced flows resulting from internal heating due to decay of fission products. The thermo-fluid dynamic characteristics of such flow depend strongly on the thermal boundary conditions. The spatial and temporal variation of heat flux on the pool wall boundaries and the pool superheat are mainly characterized by the natural convection flow inside the molten pool. In general, the natural convection heat transfer phenomena involving the internal heat generation are represented by the modified Rayleigh number (Ra’), which quantifies the internal heat source and hence the strength of the buoyancy force. In this study, tests were conducted in a rectangular section 250 mm high, 500 mm long and 160 mm wide. Twenty-four T-type thermocouples were installed in the test section to measure temperatures. Four T-type thermocouples were used to measure the boundary temperatures. The thermocouples were placed in designated locations after calibration. A direct heating method was adopted in this test to simulate the uniform heat generation. The experiments covered a range of Ra' between 1.5x106 and 7.42x1015 and the Prandtl number (Pr) between 0.7 and 6.5. Tests were conducted with water and air as simulant. The upper and lower boundary conditions were maintained uniform. The results demonstrated feasibility of the direct heating method to simulate uniform volumetric heat generation. Particular attentions were paid to the effect of Pr on natural convection heat transfer within the rectangular pool

Critical Heat Flux in Inclined Rectangular Narrow Gaps

In light of the TMI-2 accident, in which the reactor vessel lower head survived the attack by molten core material, the in-vessel retention strategy was suggested to benefit from cooling the debris through a gap between the lower head and the core material. The GAMMA 1D (Gap Apparatus Mitigating Melt Attack One Dimensional) tests were conducted to investigate the critical heat flux (CHF) in narrow gaps with varying surface orientations. The CHF in an inclined gap, especially in case of the downward-facing narrow gap, is dictated by bubble behavior because the departing bubbles are squeezed. The orientation angle affects the bubble layer and escape of the bubbles from the narrow gap. The test parameters include gap sizes of 1, 2, 5 and 10 mm and the open periphery, and the orientation angles range from the fully downward-facing (180o) to the vertical (90o) position. The 15 ×35 mm copper test section was electrically heated by the thin film resistor on the back. The heater assembly was installed to the tip of the rotating arm in the heated water pool at the atmospheric pressure. The bubble behavior was photographed utilizing a high-speed camera through the Pyrex glass spacer. It was observed that the CHF decreased as the surface inclination angle increased and as the gap size decreased in most of the cases. However, the opposing results were obtained at certain surface orientations and gap sizes. Transition angles, at which the CHF changed in a rapid slope, were also detected, which is consistent with the existing literature. A semi-empirical CHF correlation was developed for the inclined narrow rectangular channels through dimensional analysis. The correlation provides with best-estimate CHF values for realistically assessing the thermal margin to failure of the lower head during a severe accident involving relocation of the core material

LINEAR INSTABILITY ANALYSIS OF A WATER SHEET TRAILING FROM A WET SPACER GRID IN A ROD BUNDLE

The reflood test data from the rod bundle heat transfer (RBHT) test facility showed that the grids in the upper portion of the rod bundle could become wet well before the arrival of the quench front and that the sizes of liquid droplets downstream of a wet grid could not be predicted by the droplet breakup models for a dry grid. To investigate the water droplet generation from a wet grid spacer, a viscous linear temporal instability model of the water sheet issuing from the trailing edge of the grid with the surrounding steam up-flow is developed in this study. The Orr-Sommerfeld equations along with appropriate boundary conditions for the flow are solved using Chebyshev series expansions and the Tau-Galerkin projection method. The effects of several physical parameters on the water sheet oscillation are studied by determining the variation of the temporal growth rate with the wavenumber. It is found that a larger relative steam velocity to water velocity has a tendency to destabilize the water sheet with increased dynamic pressure. On the other hand, a larger ratio of steam boundary layer to the half water sheet thickness has a stabilizing effect on the water sheet oscillation. Droplet diameters downstream of the spacer grid predicted by the present model are found to compare reasonably well with the data obtained at the RBHT test facility as well as with other data recently reported in the literature

ICONE12-49305 FILM BOILING ON DOWNWARD QUENCHING HEMISPHEREOF VARYING SIZES

ABSTRACT Film boiling heat transfer coefficients for a downwardfacing hemispherical surface are measured from the quenching tests in DELTA (Downward-boiling Experimental Laminar Transition Apparatus). Two test sections are made of copper to maintain low Biot numbers. The outer diameters of the hemispheres are 120 mm and 294 mm, respectively. The thickness of all the test sections is 30 mm. The effect of diameter on film boiling heat transfer is quantified utilizing results obtained from the test sections. The measured data are compared with the numerical predictions from laminar film boiling analysis. The measured heat transfer coefficients are found to be greater than those predicted by the conventional laminar flow theory on account of the interfacial wavy motion incurred by the Helmholtz instability. Incorporation of the wavy motion model considerably improves the agreement between the experimental and numerical results in terms of heat transfer coefficient. In addition, the interfacial wavy motion and the quenching process are visualized through a digital camera

Enhancement of Downward-Facing Saturated Boiling Heat Transfer by the Cold Spray Technique

In-vessel retention by passive external reactor vessel cooling under severe accident conditions is a viable approach for retention of radioactive core melt within the reactor vessel. In this study, a new and versatile coating technique known as “cold spray” that can readily be applied to operating and advanced reactors was developed to form a microporous coating on the outer surface of a simulated reactor lower head. Quenching experiments were performed under simulated in-vessel retention by passive external reactor vessel cooling conditions using test vessels with and without cold spray coatings. Quantitative measurements show that for all angular locations on the vessel outer surface, the local critical heat flux (CHF) values for the coated vessel were consistently higher than the corresponding CHF values for the bare vessel. However, it was also observed for both coated and uncoated surfaces that the local rate of boiling and local CHF limit vary appreciably along the outer surface of the test vessel. Nonetheless, results of this intriguing study clearly show that the use of cold spray coatings could enhance the local CHF limit for downward-facing boiling by > 88%