Electromagnetic (EM) induction pumps are used extensively in current and proposed nuclear power systems and industrial molten metal transfer operations. Although the Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory that underlies the operation of these types of pumps has been studied extensively in the past few decades, the design of specific EM pumping systems for specific flow cases requires computational tools and expertise, which is lacking in the U.S. However, for the past two years, researchers at UNLV have been utilizing the TC-1 liquid metal loop system at UNLV and an Annular Linear Induction Pump (ALIP) to drive the liquid metal and to develop such computational tools that will allow the accurate and efficient optimization of EM pump systems for nuclear applications.
The research objectives of this task are:
• A literature review of topics pertinent to EM pump design. These topics include the equations governing the physical phenomena occurring in EM pumps and mathematical algorithms used in modeling these physical phenomena, different EM pump configurations, and the effects of materials properties on pump performance.
• Development of computational models of the TC-1 loop at UNLV.
• Evaluation of the computational models through comparison with experimental data taken on the TC-1 loop.
• A parametric study of the TC-1 loop investigating the pumping efficiency as a function of operating conditions, materials properties, and geometric parameters
