WorldWideScience

Sample records for supercritical helium flow

  1. A reciprocating liquid helium pump used for forced flow of supercritical helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krafft, G.; Zahn, G.

    1978-01-01

    The performance of a small double acting piston pump for circulating helium in a closed heat transfer loop is described. The pump was manufactured by LINDE AG, Munich, West Germany. The measured flow rate of supercritical helium was about 17 gs -1 (500 lhr -1 ) with a differential pressure of Δp = 0.5 x 10 5 Nm -2 at a working pressure of p = 6 x 10 5 Nm -2 . At differential pressures beyond 0.5 x 10 5 Nm -2 the volumetric efficiency decreases. (author)

  2. Cryogenic recovery analysis of forced flow supercritical helium cooled superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, A.Y.

    1977-08-01

    A coupled heat conduction and fluid flow method of solution was presented for cryogenic stability analysis of cabled composite superconductors of large scale magnetic coils. The coils are cooled by forced flow supercritical helium in parallel flow channels. The coolant flow reduction in one of the channels during the spontaneous recovery transient, after the conductor undergoes a transition from superconducting to resistive, necessitates a parallel channel analysis. A way to simulate the parallel channel analysis is described to calculate the initial channel inlet flow rate required for recovery after a given amount of heat is deposited. The recovery capability of a NbTi plus copper composite superconductor design is analyzed and the results presented. If the hydraulics of the coolant flow is neglected in the recovery analysis, the recovery capability of the superconductor will be over-predicted

  3. Supercritical Helium Cooling of the LHC Beam Screens

    CERN Document Server

    Hatchadourian, E; Tavian, L

    1998-01-01

    The cold mass of the LHC superconducting magnets, operating in pressurised superfluid helium at 1.9 K, must be shielded from the dynamic heat loads induced by the circulating particle beams, by means of beam screens maintained at higher temperature. The beam screens are cooled between 5 and 20 K by forced flow of weakly supercritical helium, a solution which avoids two-phase flow in the long, narr ow cooling channels, but still presents a potential risk of thermohydraulic instabilities. This problem has been studied by theoretical modelling and experiments performed on a full-scale dedicated te st loop.

  4. Model-based minimization algorithm of a supercritical helium loop consumption subject to operational constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonne, F.; Bonnay, P.; Girard, A.; Hoa, C.; Lacroix, B.; Le Coz, Q.; Nicollet, S.; Poncet, J.-M.; Zani, L.

    2017-12-01

    Supercritical helium loops at 4.2 K are the baseline cooling strategy of tokamaks superconducting magnets (JT-60SA, ITER, DEMO, etc.). This loops work with cryogenic circulators that force a supercritical helium flow through the superconducting magnets in order that the temperature stay below the working range all along their length. This paper shows that a supercritical helium loop associated with a saturated liquid helium bath can satisfy temperature constraints in different ways (playing on bath temperature and on the supercritical flow), but that only one is optimal from an energy point of view (every Watt consumed at 4.2 K consumes at least 220 W of electrical power). To find the optimal operational conditions, an algorithm capable of minimizing an objective function (energy consumption at 5 bar, 5 K) subject to constraints has been written. This algorithm works with a supercritical loop model realized with the Simcryogenics [2] library. This article describes the model used and the results of constrained optimization. It will be possible to see that the changes in operating point on the temperature of the magnet (e.g. in case of a change in the plasma configuration) involves large changes on the cryodistribution optimal operating point. Recommendations will be made to ensure that the energetic consumption is kept as low as possible despite the changing operating point. This work is partially supported by EUROfusion Consortium through the Euratom Research and Training Program 20142018 under Grant 633053.

  5. Experimental and numerical thermohydraulic study of a supercritical helium loop in forced convection under pulsed heat loads

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lagier, Benjamin

    2014-01-01

    Future fusion reactor devices such as ITER or JT-60SA will produce thermonuclear fusion reaction in plasmas at several millions of degrees. The confinement in the center of the chamber is achieved by very intense magnetic fields generated by superconducting magnets. These coils have to be cooled down to 4.4 K through a forced flow of supercritical helium. The cyclic behavior of the machines leads to pulsed thermal heat loads which will have to be handled by the refrigerator. The HELIOS experiment built in CEA Grenoble is a scaled down model of the helium distribution system of the tokamak JT-60SA composed of a saturated helium bath and a supercritical helium loop. The thesis work explores HELIOS capabilities for experimental and numerical investigations on three heat load smoothing strategies: the use of the saturated helium bath as an open thermal buffer, the rotation speed variation of the cold circulator and the bypassing of the heated section. The developed model describes well the physical evolutions of the helium loop (pressure, temperature, mass flow) submitted to heat loads observed during experiments. Advanced controls have been tested and validated to improve the stability of the refrigerator and to optimize the refrigeration power. (author) [fr

  6. Test of a cryogenic helium pump

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lue, J.W.; Miller, J.R.; Walstrom, P.L.; Herz, W.

    1981-01-01

    The design of a cryogenic helium pump for circulating liquid helium in a magnet and the design of a test loop for measuring the pump performance in terms of mass flow vs pump head at various pump speeds are described. A commercial cryogenic helium pump was tested successfully. Despite flaws in the demountable connections, the piston pump itself has performed satisfactorily. A helium pump of this type is suitable for the use of flowing supercritical helium through Internally Cooled Superconductor (ICS) magnets. It has pumped supercritical helium up to 7.5 atm with a pump head up to 2.8 atm. The maximum mass flow rate obtained was about 16 g/s. Performance of the pump was degraded at lower pumping speeds

  7. Literature survey of heat transfer and hydraulic resistance of water, carbon dioxide, helium and other fluids at supercritical and near-critical pressures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pioro, I.L.; Duffey, R.B

    2003-04-01

    This survey consists of 430 references, including 269 Russian publications and 161 Western publications devoted to the problems of heat transfer and hydraulic resistance of a fluid at near-critical and supercritical pressures. The objective of the literature survey is to compile and summarize findings in the area of heat transfer and hydraulic resistance at supercritical pressures for various fluids for the last fifty years published in the open Russian and Western literature. The analysis of the publications showed that the majority of the papers were devoted to the heat transfer of fluids at near-critical and supercritical pressures flowing inside a circular tube. Three major working fluids are involved: water, carbon dioxide, and helium. The main objective of these studies was the development and design of supercritical steam generators for power stations (utilizing water as a working fluid) in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Carbon dioxide was usually used as the modeling fluid due to lower values of the critical parameters. Helium, and sometimes carbon dioxide, were considered as possible working fluids in some special designs of nuclear reactors. (author)

  8. Coupling a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle to a Helium-Cooled Reactor.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Middleton, Bobby [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Pasch, James Jay [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Kruizenga, Alan Michael [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Walker, Matthew [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2016-01-01

    This report outlines the thermodynamics of a supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) recompression closed Brayton cycle (RCBC) coupled to a Helium-cooled nuclear reactor. The baseline reactor design for the study is the AREVA High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR). Using the AREVA HTGR nominal operating parameters, an initial thermodynamic study was performed using Sandia's deterministic RCBC analysis program. Utilizing the output of the RCBC thermodynamic analysis, preliminary values of reactor power and of Helium flow rate through the reactor were calculated in Sandia's HelCO2 code. Some research regarding materials requirements was then conducted to determine aspects of corrosion related to both Helium and to sCO2 , as well as some mechanical considerations for pressures and temperatures that will be seen by the piping and other components. This analysis resulted in a list of materials-related research items that need to be conducted in the future. A short assessment of dry heat rejection advantages of sCO2> Brayton cycles was also included. This assessment lists some items that should be investigated in the future to better understand how sCO2 Brayton cycles and nuclear can maximally contribute to optimizing the water efficiency of carbon free power generation

  9. Performance evaluation approach for the supercritical helium cold circulators of ITER

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vaghela, H.; Sarkar, B.; Bhattacharya, R.; Kapoor, H. [ITER-India, Institute for Plasma Research, Near Indira Bridge, Bhat, Gandhinagar-382428 (India); Chalifour, M.; Chang, H.-S.; Serio, L. [ITER Organization, Route de Vinon sur Verdon - 13115 St Paul Lez Durance (France)

    2014-01-29

    The ITER project design foresees Supercritical Helium (SHe) forced flow cooling for the main cryogenic components, namely, the superconducting (SC) magnets and cryopumps (CP). Therefore, cold circulators have been selected to provide the required SHe mass flow rate to cope with specific operating conditions and technical requirements. Considering the availability impacts of such machines, it has been decided to perform evaluation tests of the cold circulators at operating conditions prior to the series production in order to minimize the project technical risks. A proposal has been conceptualized, evaluated and simulated to perform representative tests of the full scale SHe cold circulators. The objectives of the performance tests include the validation of normal operating condition, transient and off-design operating modes as well as the efficiency measurement. A suitable process and instrumentation diagram of the test valve box (TVB) has been developed to implement the tests at the required thermodynamic conditions. The conceptual engineering design of the TVB has been developed along with the required thermal analysis for the normal operating conditions to support the performance evaluation of the SHe cold circulator.

  10. Ultralow temperature helium compressor for Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asakura, Hiroshi

    1988-01-01

    Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. started the development of an ultralow temperature helium compressor for helium liquefaction in 1984 jointly with Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, and has delivered the first practical machine to the Superconductive Magnet Laboratory of JAERI. For a large superconductive magnet to be used in the stable state for a fusion reactor, conventional superconductive materials (NbTi, NbTi 3 Sn, etc.) must be used, being cooled forcibly with supercritical helium. The supercritical helium which is compressed above the critical pressure of 228 kPa has a stable cooling effect since the thermal conductivity does not change due to the evaporation of liquid helium. In order to maintain the temperature of the supercritical helium below 4 K before it enters a magnet, a heat exchanger is used. The compressor that IHI has developed has the ability to reduce the vapor pressure of liquid helium from atmospheric pressure to 50.7 kPa, and can attain the temperature of 3.5 K. The specification of this single stage centrifugal compressor is: mass flow rate 25 - 64 g/s, speed 80,000 rpm, adiabatic efficiency 62 - 69 %. The structure and the performance are reported. (K.I.)

  11. Pressure drop and friction factor correlations of supercritical flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fang Xiande; Xu Yu; Su Xianghui; Shi Rongrong

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Survey and evaluation of friction factor models for supercritical flow. ► Survey of experimental study of supercritical flow. ► New correlation of friction factor for supercritical flow. - Abstract: The determination of the in-tube friction pressure drop under supercritical conditions is important to the design, analysis and simulation of transcritical cycles of air conditioning and heat pump systems, nuclear reactor cooling systems and some other systems. A number of correlations for supercritical friction factors have been proposed. Their accuracy and applicability should be examined. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of experimental investigations into the pressure drop of supercritical flow in the past decade and a comparative study of supercritical friction factor correlations. Our analysis shows that none of the existing correlations is completely satisfactory, that there are contradictions between the existing experimental results and thus more elaborate experiments are needed, and that the tube roughness should be considered. A new friction factor correlation for supercritical tube flow is proposed based on 390 experimental data from the available literature, including 263 data of supercritical R410A cooling, 45 data of supercritical R404A cooling, 64 data of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) cooling and 18 data of supercritical R22 heating. Compared with the best existing model, the new correlation increases the accuracy by more than 10%.

  12. Supercritical water natural circulation flow stability experiment research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, Dongliang; Zhou, Tao; Li, Bing [North China Electric Power Univ., Beijing (China). School of Nuclear Science and Engineering; North China Electric Power Univ., Beijing (China). Inst. of Nuclear Thermalhydraulic Safety and Standardization; North China Electric Power Univ., Beijing (China). Beijing Key Lab. of Passive Safety Technology for Nuclear Energy; Huang, Yanping [Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu (China). Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Lab.

    2017-12-15

    The Thermal hydraulic characteristics of supercritical water natural circulation plays an important role in the safety of the Generation-IV supercritical water-cooled reactors. Hence it is crucial to conduct the natural circulation heat transfer experiment of supercritical water. The heat transfer characteristics have been studied under different system pressures in the natural circulation systems. Results show that the fluctuations in the subcritical flow rate (for natural circulation) is relatively small, as compared to the supercritical flow rate. By increasing the heating power, it is observed that the amplitude (and time period) of the fluctuation tends to become larger for the natural circulation of supercritical water. This tends to show the presence of flow instability in the supercritical water. It is possible to observe the flow instability phenomenon when the system pressure is suddenly reduced from the supercritical pressure state to the subcritical state. At the test outlet section, the temperature is prone to increase suddenly, whereas the blocking effect may be observed in the inlet section of the experiment.

  13. Development of a Mass Flowmeter based on the Coriolis Acceleration for Liquid, Supercritical and Superfluid Helium

    CERN Document Server

    De Jonge, T; Rivetti, A; Serio, L

    2002-01-01

    Beginning in the 1980's, Coriolis meters have gained generalised acceptance in liquid applications with a worldwide installed base of over 300,000 units. To meet the demands of cryogenic applications below 20 K, off-the-shelf Coriolis meters have been used, with minor design modifications and operational changes. The meters were originally calibrated on water and tested on liquid helium at 4.5 K, supercritical helium around 5 K and superfluid helium below 2 K. The meters maintain their intrinsic robustness and accuracy of better than 1% of measured value; accuracy is independent of density and temperature.

  14. Experimental test of a supercritical helium heat exchanger dedicated to EUROTRANS 150 kW CW power coupler

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souli, M.; Fouaidy, M.; Hammoudi, N.

    2010-05-01

    The coaxial power coupler needed for beta = 0.65 superconducting RF cavities used in the high energy section of the EUROTRANS driver should transmit 150 kW (CW operation) RF power to the proton beam. The estimated RF losses on the power coupler outer conductor in standing wave mode operation are 46 W. To remove these heat loads, a full scale copper coil heat exchanger brazed around the outer conductor was designed and tested using supercritical helium at T = 6 K as a coolant. Our main objective was to minimise the heat loads to cold extremity of SRF cavity maintained at 2 K or 4.2 K. A dedicated test facility named SUPERCRYLOOP was developed and successfully operated in order to measure the performance of the cold heat exchanger. The test cell used reproduces the realistic thermal boundary conditions of the power coupler mounted on the cavity in the cryomodule. After a short introduction, a brief discussion about the problem of power coupler cooling systems in different machines is made. After that, we describe the experimental set-up and test apparatus. Then, a heat exchanger thermal model will be developed with FEM code COSMOS/M to estimate the different heat transfer coefficients by comparison between numerical simulation results and experimental data in order to validate the design. Finally, thermo-hydraulic behavior of supercritical helium has been investigated as function of different parameters (inlet pressure, flow rate, heat loads).

  15. Supercritical helium cooled, cabled, superconducting hollow conductors for large high field magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoenig, M.O.; Iwasa, Y.; Montgomery, D.B.; Bejan, A.

    1976-01-01

    Within the last two years a new concept of cabled superconducting hollow conductors has been developed which are able to recover from transient instabilities by virtue of on-going, single-phase helium cooling. It has been possible to correlate small scale experimental results with an iterative computer program. The latter has been recently upgraded to include axial as well as radial heat transfer and predict more closely the chances of recovery. Nearly 1 g/s of supercritical helium has been circulated in a closed loop using a high speed centrifugal fan and up to 10 g/s using a reciprocating single pulse bellows pump. The loop is now being adapted to a 3 m length of a tightly wound 5000 A cabled hollow conductor equipped with pulse coils designed to fit inside a water cooled Bitter magnet. The combination will allow for a steady background field of 7.5 t with a 2 t superimposed pulse. (author)

  16. Simulation of Oxygen Disintegration and Mixing With Hydrogen or Helium at Supercritical Pressure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellan, Josette; Taskinoglu, Ezgi

    2012-01-01

    The simulation of high-pressure turbulent flows, where the pressure, p, is larger than the critical value, p(sub c), for the species under consideration, is relevant to a wide array of propulsion systems, e.g. gas turbine, diesel, and liquid rocket engines. Most turbulence models, however, have been developed for atmospheric-p turbulent flows. The difference between atmospheric-p and supercritical-p turbulence is that, in the former situation, the coupling between dynamics and thermodynamics is moderate to negligible, but for the latter it is very significant, and can dominate the flow characteristics. The reason for this stems from the mathematical form of the equation of state (EOS), which is the perfect-gas EOS in the former case, and the real-gas EOS in the latter case. For flows at supercritical pressure, p, the large eddy simulation (LES) equations consist of the differential conservation equations coupled with a real-gas EOS. The equations use transport properties that depend on the thermodynamic variables. Compared to previous LES models, the differential equations contain not only the subgrid scale (SGS) fluxes, but also new SGS terms, each denoted as a correction. These additional terms, typically assumed null for atmospheric pressure flows, stem from filtering the differential governing equations, and represent differences between a filtered term and the same term computed as a function of the filtered flow field. In particular, the energy equation contains a heat-flux correction (q-correction) that is the difference between the filtered divergence of the heat flux and the divergence of the heat flux computed as a function of the filtered flow field. In a previous study, there was only partial success in modeling the q-correction term, but in this innovation, success has been achieved by using a different modeling approach. This analysis, based on a temporal mixing layer Direct Numerical Simulation database, shows that the focus in modeling the q

  17. Convective heat transfer in supercritical flows of CO_2 in tubes with and without flow obstacles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eter, Ahmad; Groeneveld, Dé; Tavoularis, Stavros

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Measurements of supercritical heat transfer in tubes equipped with obstacles were obtained and compared with results in base tubes. • In general, flow obstacles improve supercritical heat transfer, but under certain conditions have a negative effect on it. • New correlations describing obstacle-enhanced supercritical heat transfer in the liquid-like and gas-like regimes are fitted to the data. - Abstract: Heat transfer measurements to CO_2-cooled tubes with and without flow obstacles at supercritical pressures were obtained at the University of Ottawa’s supercritical pressure test facility. The effects of obstacle geometry (obstacle pitch, obstacle shape, flow blockage) on the wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient were investigated. Tests were performed for vertical upward flow in a directly heated 8 mm ID tube for a pressure range from 7.69 to 8.36 MPa, a mass flux range from 200 to 1184 kg/m"2 s, and a heat flux range from 1 to 175 kW/m"2. The results are presented graphically in plots of wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient vs. bulk specific enthalpy of the fluid. The effects of flow parameters and flow obstacle geometry on supercritical heat transfer for both normal and deteriorated heat transfer are discussed. A comparison of the measurements with leading prediction methods for supercritical heat transfer in bare tubes and for spacer effects is also presented. The optimum increase in heat transfer coefficient was found to be for blunt obstacles, having a large flow blockage, and a short obstacle pitch.

  18. KSTAR Helium Refrigeration System Design and Manufacturing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dauguet, P.; Briend, P.; Abe, I.; Fauve, E.; Bernhardt, J.-M.; Andrieu, F.; Beauvisage, J.

    2006-01-01

    The tokamak developed in the KSTAR (Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) project makes intensive use of superconducting magnets operated at 4.5 K. The cold components of the KSTAR tokamak require forced flow of supercritical helium for magnets/structure, boiling liquid helium for current leads, and gaseous helium for thermal shields. The cryogenic system will provide stable operation and full automatic control. A three-pressure helium cycle composed of six turbines has been customised design for this project. The '' design '' operating mode results with a system composed of a 9 kW refrigerator (including safety margin) and using gas and liquid storages for mass balancing. During Shot/Standby mode, the heat loads are highly time-dependent. A thermal damper is used to smooth these variations and will allow stable operation. (author)

  19. Catalyst retention in continuous flow with supercritical carbon dioxide

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stouten, S.C.; Noel, T.; Wang, Q.; Hessel, V.

    2014-01-01

    This review discusses the retention of organometallic catalysts in continuous flow processes utilizing supercritical carbon dioxide. Due to its innovative properties, supercritical carbon dioxide offers interesting possibilities for process intensification. As a result of safety and cost

  20. Convective heat transfer in supercritical flows of CO{sub 2} in tubes with and without flow obstacles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eter, Ahmad, E-mail: eng.eter@yahoo.com; Groeneveld, Dé, E-mail: degroeneveld@gmail.com; Tavoularis, Stavros, E-mail: stavros.tavoularis@uottawa.ca

    2017-03-15

    Highlights: • Measurements of supercritical heat transfer in tubes equipped with obstacles were obtained and compared with results in base tubes. • In general, flow obstacles improve supercritical heat transfer, but under certain conditions have a negative effect on it. • New correlations describing obstacle-enhanced supercritical heat transfer in the liquid-like and gas-like regimes are fitted to the data. - Abstract: Heat transfer measurements to CO{sub 2}-cooled tubes with and without flow obstacles at supercritical pressures were obtained at the University of Ottawa’s supercritical pressure test facility. The effects of obstacle geometry (obstacle pitch, obstacle shape, flow blockage) on the wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient were investigated. Tests were performed for vertical upward flow in a directly heated 8 mm ID tube for a pressure range from 7.69 to 8.36 MPa, a mass flux range from 200 to 1184 kg/m{sup 2} s, and a heat flux range from 1 to 175 kW/m{sup 2}. The results are presented graphically in plots of wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient vs. bulk specific enthalpy of the fluid. The effects of flow parameters and flow obstacle geometry on supercritical heat transfer for both normal and deteriorated heat transfer are discussed. A comparison of the measurements with leading prediction methods for supercritical heat transfer in bare tubes and for spacer effects is also presented. The optimum increase in heat transfer coefficient was found to be for blunt obstacles, having a large flow blockage, and a short obstacle pitch.

  1. Subcritical to supercritical flow transition in a horizontal stratified flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asaka, H.; Kukita, Y.

    1995-01-01

    The conditions for a transition from hydraulically subcritical to supercritical flow in the hot legs of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) were studied using data obtained from a two-phase natural circulation experiment conducted at the ROSA-IV Large Scale Test Facility (LSTF). The LSTF is a 1/48 volumetrically-scaled simulator of a Westinghouse-type PWR. The conditions for the transition were compared with the theory of Gardner. While the model explains the trend in the experimental data, the quantitative agreement was not satisfactory. It was found that the conditions for the transition from the subcritical to supercritical flow were predicted well by introducing energy loss term into the theory. (author)

  2. Bedforms formed by experimental supercritical density flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naruse, Hajime; Izumi, Norihiro; Yokokawa, Miwa; Muto, Tetsuji

    2014-05-01

    This study reveals characteristics and formative conditions of bedforms produced by saline density flows in supercritical flow conditions, especially focusing on the mechanism of the formation of plane bed. The motion of sediment particles forming bedforms was resolved by high-speed cameras (1/1000 frame/seconds). Experimental density flows were produced by mixtures of salt water (1.01-1.04 in density) and plastic particles (1.5 in specific density, 140 or 240 mm in diameter). Salt water and plastic particles are analogue materials of muddy water and sand particles in turbidity currents respectively. Acrylic flume (4.0 m long, 2.0 cm wide and 0.5 m deep) was submerged in an experimental tank (6.0 m long, 1.8 m wide and 1.2 m deep) that was filled by clear water. Features of bedforms were observed when the bed state in the flume reached equilibrium condition. The experimental conditions range 1.5-4.2 in densimetric Froude number and 0.2-0.8 in Shields dimensionless stress. We report the two major discoveries as a result of the flume experiments: (1) Plane bed under Froude-supercritical flows and (2) Geometrical characteristics of cyclic steps formed by density flows. (1) Plane bed was formed under the condition of supercritical flow regime. In previous studies, plane bed has been known to be formed by subcritical unidirectional flows (ca. 0.8 in Froude number). However, this study implies that plane bed can also be formed by supercritical conditions with high Shields dimensionless stress (>0.4) and very high Froude number (> 4.0). This discovery may suggest that previous estimations of paleo-hydraulic conditions of parallel lamination in turbidites should be reconsidered. The previous experimental studies and data from high-speed camera suggest that the region of plane bed formation coincides with the region of the sheet flow developments. The particle transport in sheet flow (thick bedload layer) induces transform of profile of flow shear stress, which may be

  3. Classical hydrodynamics of an ideal incompressible fluid and vortex motion in helium II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mamaladze, Y.G.; Kiknadze, L.V.

    1982-01-01

    Vortex motion in the vicinity of a protuberance at a bounding surface in rotating helium II and in plane slits is considered from the standpoint of the vortex-formation mechanism, the equilibrium spatial vortex distribution, and the possibility of supercritical quasidissipationless vortex flow

  4. Helium-flow measurement using ultrasonic technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sondericker, J.H.

    1983-01-01

    While designing cryogenic instrumentation for the Colliding Beam Accelerator (CBA) helium-distribution system it became clear that accurate measurement of mass flow of helium which varied in temperature from room to sub-cooled conditions would be difficult. Conventional venturi flow meters full scale differential pressure signal would decrease by more than an order of magnitude during cooldown causing unacceptable error at operating temperature. At sub-cooled temperatures, helium would be pumped around cooling loops by an efficient, low head pressure circulating compressor. Additional pressure drop meant more pump work was necessary to compress the fluid resulting in a higher outlet temperature. The ideal mass flowmeter for this application was one which did not add pressure drop to the system, functioned over the entire temperature range, has high resolution and delivers accurate mass flow measurement data. Ultrasonic flow measurement techniques used successfully by the process industry, seemed to meet all the necessary requirements. An extensive search for a supplier of such a device found that none of the commercial stock flowmeters were adaptable to cryogenic service so the development of the instrument was undertaken by the CBA Cryogenic Control and Instrumentation Engineering Group at BNL

  5. High Reynolds number flows using liquid and gaseous helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donnelly, R.J.

    1991-01-01

    Consideration is given to liquid and gaseous helium as test fluids, high Reynolds number test requirements in low speed aerodynamics, the measurement of subsonic flow around an appended body of revolution at cryogenic conditions in the NTF, water tunnels, flow visualization, the six component magnetic suspension system for wind tunnel testing, and recent aerodynamic measurements with magnetic suspension systems. Attention is also given to application of a flow visualization technique to a superflow experiment, experimental investigations of He II flows at high Reynolds numbers, a study of homogeneous turbulence in superfluid helium, and thermal convection in liquid helium

  6. Morphodynamics and sedimentary structures of bedforms under supercritical-flow conditions: new insights from flume experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cartigny, Matthieu; Ventra, Dario; Postma, George; Van den Berg, Jan H.

    2014-05-01

    Supercritical-flow phenomena are fairly common in modern sedimentary environments, yet their recognition remains subordinate in the rock record. This is commonly ascribed to the poor preservation potential of deposits from supercritical flows. However, the number of documented flume datasets on supercritical-flow dynamics and sedimentary structures is very limited in comparison with available data from subcritical-flow experiments, and our inability to identify and interpret such deposits might also be due to insufficient knowledge. This article describes the results of systematic experiments spanning the full range of supercritical-flow bedforms (antidunes, chutes-and-pools, cyclic steps) developed over mobile sand beds of variable grain sizes. Flow character and related bedform patterns are constrained through time-series measurements of the bed configuration, flow depth, flow velocity and Froude number. The results allow the refinement and extension of current bedform stability diagrams in the supercritical-flow domain. The experimental dataset and the stability diagram clarify morphodynamic relationships between antidune and cyclic steps. The onset of antidunes is controlled by the flow passing a threshold value of the Froude parameter. The transition from antidunes to cyclic steps instead is completed at a threshold value of the mobility parameter, and this transition spans a wider range of values for the mobility parameter as grain size increases. Sedimentary structures associated with the development of supercritical bedforms under variable aggradation rates are revealed by means of a synthetic aggradation technique and compared with examples from field and flume studies. Aggradation rate bears an important influence on the geometry of supercritical structures, and it should be held in consideration for the identification and mutual distinction of supercritical-flow bedforms in the stratigraphic record.

  7. Experimental Validation of the LHC Helium Relief System Flow Modeling

    CERN Document Server

    Fydrych, J; Riddone, G

    2006-01-01

    In case of simultaneous resistive transitions in a whole sector of magnets in the Large Hadron Collider, the helium would be vented from the cold masses to a dedicated recovery system. During the discharge the cold helium will eventually enter a pipe at room temperature. During the first period of the flow the helium will be heated intensely due to the pipe heat capacity. To study the changes of the helium thermodynamic and flow parameters we have simulated numerically the most critical flow cases. To verify and validate numerical results, a dedicated laboratory test rig representing the helium relief system has been designed and commissioned. Both numerical and experimental results allow us to determine the distributions of the helium parameters along the pipes as well as mechanical strains and stresses.

  8. Numerical investigation of flow instability in parallel channels with supercritical water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shitsi, Edward; Debrah, Seth Kofi; Agbodemegbe, Vincent Yao; Ampomah-Amoako, Emmanuel

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: •Supercritical flow instability in parallel channels is investigated. •Flow dynamics and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed. •Mass flow rate, pressure, heating power, and axial power shape have significant effects on flow instability. •Numerical results are validated with experimental results. -- Abstract: SCWR is one of the selected Gen IV reactors purposely for electricity generation in the near future. It is a promising technology with higher efficiency compared to current LWRs but without the challenges of heat transfer and its associated flow instability. Supercritical flow instability is mainly caused by sharp change in the coolant properties around the pseudo-critical point of the working fluid and research into this phenomenon is needed to address concerns of flow instability at supercritical pressures. Flow instability in parallel channels at supercritical pressures is investigated in this paper using a three dimensional (3D) numerical tool (STAR-CCM+). The dynamics characteristics such as amplitude and period of out-of-phase inlet mass flow oscillation at the heated channel inlet, and heat transfer characteristic such as maximum outlet temperature of the heated channel outlet temperature oscillation are discussed. Influences of system parameters such as axial power shape, pressure, mass flow rate, and gravity are discussed based on the obtained mass flow and temperature oscillations. The results show that the system parameters have significant effect on the amplitude of the mass flow oscillation and maximum temperature of the heated outlet temperature oscillation but have little effect on the period of the mass flow oscillation. The amplitude of mass flow oscillation and maximum temperature of the heated channel outlet temperature oscillation increase with heating power. The numerical results when compared to experiment data show that the 3D numerical tool (STAR-CCM+) could capture dynamics and heat transfer characteristics of

  9. Heat transfer in two-phase flow of helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Subbotin, V.I.; Deev, V.I.; Solodovnikov, V.V.; Arkhipov, V.V.

    1986-01-01

    The results of experimental study of heat transfer in two-phase helium flow are presented. The effect of operating parameters (pressure, mass velocity, heat flux and quality) on boiling heat transfer intensity was investigated. A significant influence of boiling process prehistory on heat transfer coefficients was demonstrated. On the basis of experimental data obtained three typical regimes of flow boiling heat transfer were found. Analogy of heat transfer in flow boiling and pool boiling of helium and noncryogenic liquids was established. Correlations were developed which are in close agreement with available heat transfer data

  10. Study on parallel-channel asymmetry in supercritical flow instability experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiong Ting; Yu Junchong; Yan Xiao; Huang Yanping; Xiao Zejun; Huang Shanfang

    2013-01-01

    Due to the urgent need for experimental study on supercritical water flow instability, the parallel-channel asymmetry which determines the feasibility of such experiments was studied with the experimental and numerical results in parallel dual channel. The evolution of flow rates in the experiments was analyzed, and the steady-state characteristics as well as transient characteristics of the system were obtained by self-developed numerical code. The results show that the asymmetry of the parallel dual channel would reduce the feasibility of experiments. The asymmetry of flow rates is aroused by geometrical asymmetry. Due to the property variation characteristics of supercritical water, the flow rate asymmetry is enlarged while rising beyond the pseudo critical point. The extent of flow rate asymmetry is affected by the bulk temperature and total flow rate; therefore the experimental feasibility can be enhanced by reducing the total flow rate. (authors)

  11. Analysis of the flow imbalance in the KSTAR PF cryo-circuit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Hyun-Jung; Park, Dong-Seong; Kwag, Sang-Woo; Joo, Jae-Jun; Moon, Kyung-Mo; Kim, Nam-Won; Lee, Young-Joo; Park, Young-Min; Yang, Hyung-Lyeol

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Investigate of flow imbalance trend for the KSTAR PF superconducting magnet. • Flow imbalance is compared with individual magnet test and integration magnet test. • Intensifying of flow imbalance is proven from the flow monitoring in the KSTAR PF circuit. • Flow behavior is analyzed during magnet charging in the circulator circuit. • Variation of magnet outlet temperature is analyzed due to flow imbalance. - Abstract: The KSTAR PF cryo-circuit is a quasi-closed circulation system in which more than 370 g/s of supercritical helium (SHe) is circulated using a SHe circulator. The heated helium from superconducting magnet is cooled through sub cooler (4.3 K). The circulator is operated at 4.5 K and 6.5 bar, and the pressure drop of the circuit is kept at 2 bar in order to maintain the supercritical state and circulator stability. The circuit is connected with helium refrigerator system, distribution system, and supercritical magnet system. It has a hundred branches to supply supercritical helium to the poloidal field superconducting magnet. The branch was designed to optimize the operation conditions and they are grouped for one cryogenic valve has the same length within the cardinal principle of the optimization. Five cryogenic valves are installed to control the mass flow rate, and seven orifice mass flow meters, differential pressure gauges and temperature sensors were installed in front of the magnet in the distribution because upper magnet and lower magnet is symmetric theoretically. The cryogenic pipe line was manufactured with elevation about 10 m between upper magnet and lower magnet. The inlet and outlet helium feed-through were installed at the coil inside in case of KSTAR PF1–PF5 upper magnet and lower magnet. The flow imbalance is caused by void fraction and it could be changed due to manufacturing process even if it has the same length of cooling channel. This creates an imbalance among cooling channels and temperatures are

  12. Skin blood flow from gas transport: helium xenon and laser Doppler compared

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neufeld, G.R.; Galante, S.R.; Whang, J.M.; DeVries, D.; Baumgardner, J.E.; Graves, D.J.; Quinn, J.A.

    1988-03-01

    A study was designed to compare three independent measures of cutaneous blood flow in normal healthy volunteers: xenon-133 washout, helium flux, and laser velocimetry. All measurements were confined to the volar aspect of the forearm. In a large group of subjects we found that helium flux through intact skin changes nonlinearly with the controlled local skin temperature whereas helium flux through stripped skin, which is directly proportional to skin blood flow, changes linearly with cutaneous temperature over the range 33 degrees to 42 degrees. In a second group of six volunteers we compared helium flux through stripped skin to xenon-133 washout (intact skin) at a skin temperature of 33 degrees, and we found an essentially linear relationship between helium flux and xenon measured blood flow. In a third group of subjects we compared helium flux blood flow (stripped skin) to laser doppler velocimetric (LDV) measurements (intact skin) at adjacent skin sites and found a nonlinear increase in the LDV skin blood flow compared to that determined by helium over the same temperature range. A possible explanation for the nonlinear increases of helium flux through intact skin and of LDV output with increasing local skin temperature is that they reflect more than a change in blood flow. They may also reflect physical changes in the stratum corneum, which alters its diffusional resistance to gas flux and its optical characteristics.

  13. Skin blood flow from gas transport: helium xenon and laser Doppler compared

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neufeld, G.R.; Galante, S.R.; Whang, J.M.; DeVries, D.; Baumgardner, J.E.; Graves, D.J.; Quinn, J.A.

    1988-01-01

    A study was designed to compare three independent measures of cutaneous blood flow in normal healthy volunteers: xenon-133 washout, helium flux, and laser velocimetry. All measurements were confined to the volar aspect of the forearm. In a large group of subjects we found that helium flux through intact skin changes nonlinearly with the controlled local skin temperature whereas helium flux through stripped skin, which is directly proportional to skin blood flow, changes linearly with cutaneous temperature over the range 33 degrees to 42 degrees. In a second group of six volunteers we compared helium flux through stripped skin to xenon-133 washout (intact skin) at a skin temperature of 33 degrees, and we found an essentially linear relationship between helium flux and xenon measured blood flow. In a third group of subjects we compared helium flux blood flow (stripped skin) to laser doppler velocimetric (LDV) measurements (intact skin) at adjacent skin sites and found a nonlinear increase in the LDV skin blood flow compared to that determined by helium over the same temperature range. A possible explanation for the nonlinear increases of helium flux through intact skin and of LDV output with increasing local skin temperature is that they reflect more than a change in blood flow. They may also reflect physical changes in the stratum corneum, which alters its diffusional resistance to gas flux and its optical characteristics

  14. Experimental study of supercritical water flow and heat transfer in vertical tube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Hongbo; Yang Jue; Lu Donghua; Gu Hanyang; Zhao Meng

    2012-01-01

    The experiment of flow and heat transfer of supercritical water has been performed on the supercritical water multipurpose test loop co-constructed by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a 7.6 mm vertical tube. Heat transfer experimental data is obtained. The results of experimental research of thermal-hydraulic parameters on flow and heat transfer of supercritical water show that: (1) Heat transfer enhancement occurs when the bulk temperature reaches pseudo-critical point with low mass flow velocity; (2) The heat transfer co- efficient and Nusselt number are decreased with the increasing of heat flux; (3) The wall temperature is decreased, but the heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number are increased with the increasing of mass flow velocity; (4) The wall temperature is increased, but the heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number are decreased with the increasing of sys- tem pressure. (authors)

  15. Supercritical Flow Synthesis of TiO2

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hellstern, Henrik Christian; Becker, Jacob; Hald, Peter

    2014-01-01

    A new, up-scaled supercritical flow synthesis apparatus has been constructed in Aarhus. A module based system allows for a range of parameter studies with improved parameter control. The dual-reactor setup enables both single phase and core-shell nanoparticle synthesis. TiO2 is a well-known mater...

  16. Operational experience with double acting piston pumps for cryogenic helium and nitrogen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vosswinkel, F.

    1978-01-01

    The design of a high efficiency double acting piston pump suitable for pumping liquefied gases at cryogenic temperatures for cable cooling, is reported. The pump has proved flexible, reliable and efficient in operation. The plunger-type pumps can be used for filling cryostats or dewars with liquid helium or nitrogen from a pressure free or pressurized storage vessel, or as circulators for subcooled, saturated and/or supercritical helium in large scale cooling experiments. Flow rates of up to 17 g/s, maximum operating pressure of 600 kPa absolute and maximum differential pressure of approximately 100 kPa are obtained. (UK)

  17. Supercritical droplet dynamics and emission in low speed cross-flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chae, J. W.; Yang, H. S.; Yoon, W. S.

    2008-01-01

    Droplet dynamics and emission of a supercritical droplet in crossing gas stream are numerically investigated. Effects of ambient pressure and velocity of nitrogen gas on the dynamics of the supercritical oxygen droplet are parametrically examined. Unsteady conservative axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations in curvilinear coordinates are preconditioned and solved by dual-time stepping method. A unified property evaluation scheme based on a fundamental equation of state and extended corresponding-state principle is established to deal with thermodynamic non-idealities and transport anomalies. At lower pressures and velocities of nitrogen cross flows, both the diffusion and the convection are important in determining the droplet dynamics. Relative flow motion causes a secondary breakup and cascading vortices, and the droplet lifetime is reduced with increasing in ambient pressure. At higher ambient pressures and velocities, however, the droplet dynamics become convection-controlled while the secondary breakup is hindered by reduced diffusivity of the oxygen. Gas-phase mixing depends on the convection and diffusion velocities in conjunction with corresponding droplet deformation and flow interaction. Supercritical droplet dynamics and emission is not similar with respect to the pressure and velocity of the ambient gas and thus provides no scale

  18. Simplified Methodology to Estimate the Maximum Liquid Helium (LHe) Cryostat Pressure from a Vacuum Jacket Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ungar, Eugene K.; Richards, W. Lance

    2015-01-01

    The aircraft-based Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a platform for multiple infrared astronomical observation experiments. These experiments carry sensors cooled to liquid helium temperatures. The liquid helium supply is contained in large (i.e., 10 liters or more) vacuum-insulated dewars. Should the dewar vacuum insulation fail, the inrushing air will condense and freeze on the dewar wall, resulting in a large heat flux on the dewar's contents. The heat flux results in a rise in pressure and the actuation of the dewar pressure relief system. A previous NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) assessment provided recommendations for the wall heat flux that would be expected from a loss of vacuum and detailed an appropriate method to use in calculating the maximum pressure that would occur in a loss of vacuum event. This method involved building a detailed supercritical helium compressible flow thermal/fluid model of the vent stack and exercising the model over the appropriate range of parameters. The experimenters designing science instruments for SOFIA are not experts in compressible supercritical flows and do not generally have access to the thermal/fluid modeling packages that are required to build detailed models of the vent stacks. Therefore, the SOFIA Program engaged the NESC to develop a simplified methodology to estimate the maximum pressure in a liquid helium dewar after the loss of vacuum insulation. The method would allow the university-based science instrument development teams to conservatively determine the cryostat's vent neck sizing during preliminary design of new SOFIA Science Instruments. This report details the development of the simplified method, the method itself, and the limits of its applicability. The simplified methodology provides an estimate of the dewar pressure after a loss of vacuum insulation that can be used for the initial design of the liquid helium dewar vent stacks. However, since it is not an exact

  19. Flow method for rapid production of Batio3 nanoparticles in supercritical water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atashfaraz, M.; Shariati-Niassar, M.; Ohara, Satoshi; Takami, S.; Umetsu, M.; Naka, T.; Adschiri, T.

    2006-01-01

    Fine BaTiO 3 nanoparticles were obtained by hydrothermal synthesis under supercritical conditions with batch and flow type experimental methods. Mixture of barium hydroxide and titanium oxide starting solution was treated in the supercritical wafer at 400 d eg C and 30 MPa. The size of nanoparticles synthesized in the flow type experiment was smaller than that in the batch type. Rapid heating in a flow, reactor is effective to synthesize smaller size and narrower particle size distribution for the BaTiO 3 , nanoparticles. The mechanism for this result was discussed based on the solubility of titanium oxide

  20. Up-Scaled Supercritical Flow Synthesis of Hybrid Materials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hellstern, Henrik Christian; Becker, Jacob; Hald, Peter

    A new, up-scaled supercritical flow synthesis apparatus is currently under construction in Aarhus. A module based system allows for a range of parameter studies with improved parameter control. The dual-reactor setup enables both single phase and core-shell nanoparticle synthesis, and the large...

  1. Investigation on flow stability of supercritical water cooled systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng, X.; Kuang, B.

    2006-01-01

    Research activities are ongoing worldwide to develop nuclear power plants with supercritical water cooled reactor (SCWR) with the purpose to achieve a high thermal efficiency and to improve their economical competitiveness. However, the strong variation of the thermal-physical properties of water in the vicinity of the pseudo-critical line results in challenging tasks in various fields, e.g. thermal-hydraulic design of a SCWR. One of the challenging tasks is to understand and to predict the dynamic behavior of supercritical water cooled systems. Although many thermal-hydraulic research activities were carried out worldwide in the past as well as in the near present, studies on dynamic behavior and flow stability of SC water cooled systems are scare. Due to the strong density variation, flow stability is expected to be one of the key items which need to be taken into account in the design of a SCWR. In the present work, the dynamic behavior and flow stability of SC water cooled systems are investigated using both numerical and theoretical approaches. For this purpose a new computer code SASC was developed, which can be applied to analysis the dynamic behavior of systems cooled by supercritical fluids. In addition, based on the assumptions of a simplified system, a theoretical model was derived for the prediction of the onset of flow instability. A comparison was made between the results obtained using the theoretical model and those from the SASC code. A good agreement was achieved. This gives the first evidence of the reliability of both the SASC code and the theoretical model

  2. Effect of wall thickness and helium cooling channels on duct magnetohydrodynamic flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Qingyun; Feng, Jingchao; Chen, Hongli

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • MHD flows in ducts of different wall thickness compared with wall uniform. • Study of velocity, pressure distribution in ducts MHD flows with single pass of helium cooling channels. • Comparison of three types of dual helium cooling channels and acquisition of an option for minimum pressure drop. • A single short duct MHD flow in blanket without FCI has been simulated for pressure gradient analysis. - Abstract: The concept of dual coolant liquid metal (LM) blanket has been proposed in different countries to demonstrate the technical feasibility of DEMO reactor. In the system, helium gas and PbLi eutectic, separated by structure grid, are used to cool main structure materials and to be self-cooled, respectively. The non-uniform wall thickness of structure materials gives rise to wall non-homogeneous conductance ratio. It will lead to electric current distribution changes, resulting in significant changes in the velocity distribution and pressure drop of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows. In order to investigate the effect of helium channels on MHD flows, different methods of numerical simulations cases are carried out including the cases of different wall thicknesses, single pass of helium cooling channels, and three types of dual helium cooling channels. The results showed that helium tubes are able to affect the velocity distribution in the boundary layer by forming wave sharp which transfers from Hartmann boundary layer to the core area. In addition, the potential profile and pressure drop in the cases have been compared to these in the case of walls without cooling channel, and the pressure gradient of a simplified single short duct MHD flow in blanket shows small waver along the central axis in the helium channel position.

  3. Effect of wall thickness and helium cooling channels on duct magnetohydrodynamic flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    He, Qingyun; Feng, Jingchao; Chen, Hongli, E-mail: hlchen1@ustc.edu.cn

    2016-02-15

    Highlights: • MHD flows in ducts of different wall thickness compared with wall uniform. • Study of velocity, pressure distribution in ducts MHD flows with single pass of helium cooling channels. • Comparison of three types of dual helium cooling channels and acquisition of an option for minimum pressure drop. • A single short duct MHD flow in blanket without FCI has been simulated for pressure gradient analysis. - Abstract: The concept of dual coolant liquid metal (LM) blanket has been proposed in different countries to demonstrate the technical feasibility of DEMO reactor. In the system, helium gas and PbLi eutectic, separated by structure grid, are used to cool main structure materials and to be self-cooled, respectively. The non-uniform wall thickness of structure materials gives rise to wall non-homogeneous conductance ratio. It will lead to electric current distribution changes, resulting in significant changes in the velocity distribution and pressure drop of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows. In order to investigate the effect of helium channels on MHD flows, different methods of numerical simulations cases are carried out including the cases of different wall thicknesses, single pass of helium cooling channels, and three types of dual helium cooling channels. The results showed that helium tubes are able to affect the velocity distribution in the boundary layer by forming wave sharp which transfers from Hartmann boundary layer to the core area. In addition, the potential profile and pressure drop in the cases have been compared to these in the case of walls without cooling channel, and the pressure gradient of a simplified single short duct MHD flow in blanket shows small waver along the central axis in the helium channel position.

  4. Linear predictions of supercritical flow instability in two parallel channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shah, M.

    2008-01-01

    A steady state linear code that can predict thermo-hydraulic instability boundaries in a two parallel channel system under supercritical conditions has been developed. Linear and non-linear solutions of the instability boundary in a two parallel channel system are also compared. The effect of gravity on the instability boundary in a two parallel channel system, by changing the orientation of the system flow from horizontal flow to vertical up-flow and vertical down-flow has been analyzed. Vertical up-flow is found to be more unstable than horizontal flow and vertical down flow is found to be the most unstable configuration. The type of instability present in each flow-orientation of a parallel channel system has been checked and the density wave oscillation type is observed in horizontal flow and vertical up-flow, while the static type of instability is observed in a vertical down-flow for the cases studied here. The parameters affecting the instability boundary, such as the heating power, inlet temperature, inlet and outlet K-factors are varied to assess their effects. This study is important for the design of future Generation IV nuclear reactors in which supercritical light water is proposed as the primary coolant. (author)

  5. The influence of different diffusion pattern to the sub- and super-critical fluid flow in brown coal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Peihuo

    2018-03-01

    Sub- and super-critical CO2 flowing in nanoscale pores are recently becoming of great interest due to that it is closely related to many engineering applications, such as geological burial and sequestration of carbon dioxide, Enhanced Coal Bed Methane recovery ( ECBM), super-critical CO2 fracturing and so on. Gas flow in nanopores cannot be described simply by the Darcy equation. Different diffusion pattern such as Fick diffusion, Knudsen diffusion, transitional diffusion and slip flow at the solid matrix separate the seepage behaviour from Darcy-type flow. According to the principle of different diffusion pattern, the flow of sub- and super-critical CO2 in brown coal was simulated by numerical method, and the results were compared with the experimental results to explore the contribution of different diffusion pattern and swelling effect in sub- and super-critical CO2 flow in nanoscale pores.

  6. Heat Transfer Characteristics of the Supercritical CO2 Flowing in a Vertical Annular Channel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Tae Ho; Bae, Yoon Yeong; Kim, Hwan Yeol

    2010-01-01

    Heat transfer test facility, SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), has been operated at KAERI for an investigation of the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of supercritical CO 2 at several test sections with a different geometry. The loop uses CO 2 because it has much lower critical pressure and temperature than those of water. Experimental study of heat transfer to supercritical CO 2 in a vertical annular channel with and hydraulic diameter of 4.5 mm has been performed. CO 2 flows downward through the annular channel simulating the downward-flowing coolant in a multi-pass reactor or water rod moderator in a single pass reactor. The heat transfer characteristics in a downward flow were analyzed and compared with the upward flow test results performed previously with the same test section at KAERI

  7. Development of a Convective Heat Transfer Correlation of a Supercritical CO2 with Vertical Downward Flow in Circular Tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Tae Ho; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Bae, Yoon Yeong

    2009-01-01

    Pressure of coolant flowing through a SCWR core subchannel is supercritical and the heat transfer behavior is known to be quite different from those at a subcritical pressure. Therefore the heat transfer study in a supercritical pressure is required for the acquisition of a reliable heat transfer correlation. A downward flow as well as an upward flow occurs in a multi-pass reactor core. The heat transfer at a supercritical pressure in downward channel has been known to result in a quite different behavior from an upward flow. An experiment for a supercritical CO 2 flowing vertically downward in circular tubes with inner diameters of 6.32 mm and 9 mm was performed by using SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat transfer Investigation for NeXt generation) at KAERI. The obtained test results are compared with the estimations from the existing correlations and an empirical formula for a downward flow is suggested

  8. PIP-II Cryogenic System and the evolution of Superfluid Helium Cryogenic Plant Specifications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chakravarty, Anindya [Fermilab; Rane, Tejas [Fermilab; Klebaner, Arkadiy [Fermilab

    2017-07-06

    The PIP-II cryogenic system consists of a Superfluid Helium Cryogenic Plant (SHCP) and a Cryogenic Distribution System (CDS) connecting the SHCP to the Superconducting (SC) Linac consisting of 25 cryomodules. The dynamic heat load of the SC cavities for continuous wave (CW) as well as pulsed mode of operation has been listed out. The static heat loads of the cavities along with the CDS have also been discussed. Simulation study has been carried out to compute the supercritical helium (SHe) flow requirements for each cryomodule. Comparison between the flow requirements of the cryomodules for the CW and pulsed modes of operation have also been made. From the total computed heat load and pressure drop values in the CDS, the basic specifications for the SHCP, required for cooling the SC Linac, have evolved.

  9. Numerical investigation of the flow over a golf ball in the subcritical and supercritical regimes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, C.E.; Beratlis, N.; Balaras, E.; Squires, K.; Tsunoda, M.

    2010-01-01

    In order to understand the role of surface dimpling on the flow over a golf ball, direct numerical simulations (DNS) are conducted within the framework of an immersed boundary approach for two physical regimes. Computations of the flow over a non-rotating golf ball are reported for a subcritical flow at a Reynolds number of 2.5 x 10 4 and a supercritical case at a Reynolds number of 1.1 x 10 5 . Grid refinement studies for both Reynolds numbers indicated that characteristics of the subcritical flow could be captured using a mesh of 337 x 10 6 points, and for the supercritical case using a grid with 1.2 x 10 9 points. Flow visualizations reveal the differences in separation characteristics between the two Reynolds numbers. Profiles of the mean velocity indicate that the flow detaches completely at approximately 84 o in the subcritical case (measured from the stagnation point at the front of the ball), while in the supercritical regime there are alternating regions of reattachment and separation within dimples with complete detachment around 110 o . Energy spectra highlight frequencies associated with vortex formation over the dimples prior to complete detachment in the supercritical regime. Reynolds stresses quantify momentum transport in the near-wall region, showing that the axial stress increases around 90 o for the subcritical case. In the supercritical regime these stress components alternately increase and decrease, corresponding to local separation and reattachment. Prediction of the drag coefficient for both Reynolds numbers is in reasonable agreement with measurements.

  10. Study on flow rate measurement and visualization of helium-air exchange flow through a small opening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fumizawa, Motoo

    1992-01-01

    This paper deals with an experimental investigation on buoyancy-driven exchange flows through horizontal and inclined openings. The method of the mass increment was developed to measure the flow rate in helium-air system and a displacement fringe technique was adopted in Mach-Zehnder interferometer to visualize the flow. As the result, the followings were obtained: Flow visualization results indicate that the upward and downward plumes of helium and air break through the opening intermittently, and they swing in the lateral direction through the horizontal opening. It is clearly visualized that the exchange flows through the inclined openings take place smoothly and stably in the separated passages. The inclination angle for the maximum Froude number decreases with increasing length-to-diameter ratio in the helium-air system, on the contrary to Mercer's experimental results in the water-brine system indicating that the angle remains almost constant. (author)

  11. Operating experience using venturi flow meters at liquid helium temperature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, K.C.

    1992-01-01

    Experiences using commercial venturi to measure single phase helium flow near 4 K (degree Kelvin) for cooling superconducting magnets have been presented. The mass flow rate was calculated from the differential pressure and the helium density evaluated from measured pressure and temperature. The venturi flow meter, with a full range of 290 g/s (0.29 Kg/s) at design conditions, has been found to be reliable and accurate. The flow measurements have been used, with great success, for evaluating the performance of a cold centrifugal compressor, the thermal acoustic heat load of a cryogenic system and the cooling of a superconducting magnet after quench

  12. Subaqueous ice-contact fans: Depositional systems characterised by highly aggradational supercritical flow conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Joerg; Winsemann, Jutta

    2015-04-01

    Subaqueous ice-contact fans are deposited by high-energy plane-wall jets from subglacial conduits into standing water bodies. Highly aggradational conditions during flow expansion and deceleration allow for the preservation of bedforms related to supercritical flows, which are commonly considered rare in the depositional record. We present field examples from gravelly and sandy subaqueous ice-contact fan successions, which indicate that deposition by supercritical flows might be considered as a characteristic feature of these depositional systems. The studied successions were deposited in deep ice-dammed lakes, which formed along the margins of the Middle Pleistocene Scandinavian ice sheets across Northern Germany. The gravel-rich subaqueous fan deposits are dominated by large scour-fills (up to 25 m wide and 3 m) deep and deposits of turbulent hyperconcentrated flows, which are partly attributed to supercritical flow conditions (Winsemann et al., 2009). Scours (up to 4.5 m wide and 0.9 m deep) infilled by gravelly backsets are observed above laterally extensive erosional surfaces and are interpreted as deposits of cyclic steps. Laterally discontinuous beds of low-angle cross-stratified gravel are interpreted as antidune deposits. Downflow and up-section the gravel-rich deposits pass into sand-rich successions, which include deposits of chutes-and-pools, breaking antidunes, stationary antidunes and humpback dunes (Lang and Winsemann, 2013). Deposits of chutes-and-pools and breaking antidunes are characterised by scour-fills (up to 4 m wide and 1.2 m deep) comprising backsets or gently dipping sigmoidal foresets. Stationary antidune deposits consist of laterally extensive sinusoidal waveforms with long wavelengths (1-12 m) and low amplitudes (0.1-0.5 m), which formed under quasi-steady flows at the lower limit of the supercritical flow stage and high rates of sedimentation. Humpback dunes are characterised by divergent sigmoidal foresets and are interpreted as

  13. Numerical Analysis of Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of CO2 at Vapour and Supercritical Phases in Micro-Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rao N.T.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2 has special thermal properties with better heat transfer and flow characteristics. Due to this reason, supercritical CO2 is being used recently in air-condition and refrigeration systems to replace non environmental friendly refrigerants. Even though many researches have been done, there are not many literatures for heat transfer and flow characteristics of supercritical CO2. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to develop flow and heat transfer CFD models on two different phases; vapour and supercritical of CO2 to investigate the heat transfer characteristics and pressure drop in micro-channels. CO2 is considered to be in different phases with different flow pressures but at same temperature. For the simulation, the CO2 flow was assumed to be turbulent, nonisothermal and Newtonian. The numerical results for both phases are compared. From the numerical analysis, for both vapour and supercritical phases, the heat energy from CO2 gas transferred to water to attain thermal equilibrium. The temperature of CO2 at vapour phase decreased 1.78% compared to supercritical phase, which decreased for 0.56% from the inlet temperature. There was a drastic increase of 72% for average Nu when the phase changed from vapour to supercritical. The average Nu decreased rapidly about 41% after total pressure of 9.0 MPa. Pressure drop (ΔP increased together with Reynolds number (Re for vapour and supercritical phases. When the phase changed from vapour to supercritical, ΔP was increased about 26%. The results obtained from this study can provide information for further investigations on supercritical CO2.

  14. Development of a Convective Heat Transfer Correlation of a Supercritical CO{sub 2} with Vertical Downward Flow in Circular Tubes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Tae Ho; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Bae, Yoon Yeong [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2009-05-15

    Pressure of coolant flowing through a SCWR core subchannel is supercritical and the heat transfer behavior is known to be quite different from those at a subcritical pressure. Therefore the heat transfer study in a supercritical pressure is required for the acquisition of a reliable heat transfer correlation. A downward flow as well as an upward flow occurs in a multi-pass reactor core. The heat transfer at a supercritical pressure in downward channel has been known to result in a quite different behavior from an upward flow. An experiment for a supercritical CO{sub 2} flowing vertically downward in circular tubes with inner diameters of 6.32 mm and 9 mm was performed by using SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat transfer Investigation for NeXt generation) at KAERI. The obtained test results are compared with the estimations from the existing correlations and an empirical formula for a downward flow is suggested.

  15. Heat Transfer Characteristics of the Supercritical CO{sub 2} Flowing in a Vertical Annular Channel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Tae Ho; Bae, Yoon Yeong; Kim, Hwan Yeol [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-05-15

    Heat transfer test facility, SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), has been operated at KAERI for an investigation of the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of supercritical CO{sub 2} at several test sections with a different geometry. The loop uses CO{sub 2} because it has much lower critical pressure and temperature than those of water. Experimental study of heat transfer to supercritical CO{sub 2} in a vertical annular channel with and hydraulic diameter of 4.5 mm has been performed. CO{sub 2} flows downward through the annular channel simulating the downward-flowing coolant in a multi-pass reactor or water rod moderator in a single pass reactor. The heat transfer characteristics in a downward flow were analyzed and compared with the upward flow test results performed previously with the same test section at KAERI

  16. Experimental investigation on flow patterns of RP-3 kerosene under sub-critical and supercritical pressures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ning; Zhou, Jin; Pan, Yu; Wang, Hui

    2014-02-01

    Active cooling with endothermic hydrocarbon fuel is proved to be one of the most promising approaches to solve the thermal problem for hypersonic aircraft such as scramjet. The flow patterns of two-phase flow inside the cooling channels have a great influence on the heat transfer characteristics. In this study, phase transition processes of RP-3 kerosene flowing inside a square quartz-glass tube were experimentally investigated. Three distinct phase transition phenomena (liquid-gas two phase flow under sub-critical pressures, critical opalescence under critical pressure, and corrugation under supercritical pressures) were identified. The conventional flow patterns of liquid-gas two phase flow, namely bubble flow, slug flow, churn flow and annular flow are observed under sub-critical pressures. Dense bubble flow and dispersed flow are recognized when pressure is increased towards the critical pressure whilst slug flow, churn flow and annular flow disappear. Under critical pressure, the opalescence phenomenon is observed. Under supercritical pressures, no conventional phase transition characteristics, such as bubbles are observed. But some kind of corrugation appears when RP-3 transfers from liquid to supercritical. The refraction index variation caused by sharp density gradient near the critical temperature is thought to be responsible for this corrugation.

  17. Corrosion in Supercritical carbon Dioxide: Materials, Environmental Purity, Surface Treatments, and Flow Issues

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sridharan, Kumar; Anderson, Mark

    2013-12-10

    separately to high purity CO{sub 2}. Task 3: Evaluation of surface treatments on the corrosion performance of alloys in supercritical CO{sub 2}: Surface treatments can be very beneficial in improving corrosion resistance. Shot peening and yttrium and aluminum surface treatments will be investigated. Shot peening refines the surface grain sizes and promotes protective Cr-oxide layer formation. Both yttrium and aluminum form highly stable oxide layers (Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}), which can get incorporated in the growing Fe-oxide layer to form an impervious complex oxide to enhance corrosion resistance. Task 4: Study of flow-assisted corrosion of select alloys in supercritical CO{sub 2} under a selected set of test conditions: To study the effects of flow-assisted corrosion, tests will be conducted in a supercritical CO{sub 2} flow loop. An existing facility used for supercritical water flow studies at the proposing university will be modified for use in this task. The system is capable of flow velocities up to 10 m/s and can operate at temperatures and pressures of up to 650°C and 20 MPa, respectively. All above tasks will be performed in conjunction with detailed materials characterization and analysis using scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) techniques, and weight change measurements. Inlet and outlet gas compositions will be monitored using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS).

  18. An efficient continuous flow helium cooling unit for Moessbauer experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herbert, I.R.; Campbell, S.J.

    1976-01-01

    A Moessbauer continuous flow cooling unit for use with liquid helium over the temperature range 4.2 to 300K is described. The cooling unit can be used for either absorber or source studies in the horizontal plane and it is positioned directly on top of a helium storage vessel. The helium transfer line forms an integral part of the cooling unit and feeds directly into the storage vessel so that helium losses are kept to the minimum. The helium consumption is 0.12 l h -1 at 4.2 K decreasing to 0.055 l h -1 at 40 K. The unit is top loading and the exchange gas cooled samples can be changed easily and quickly. (author)

  19. Evaluation and optimization of a supercritical carbon dioxide power conversion cycle for nuclear applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harvego, Edwin A.; McKellar, Michael G.

    2011-01-01

    There have been a number of studies involving the use of gases operating in the supercritical mode for power production and process heat applications. Supercritical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is particularly attractive because it is capable of achieving relatively high power conversion cycle efficiencies in the temperature range between 550degC and 750degC. Therefore, it has the potential for use with any type of high-temperature nuclear reactor concept, assuming reactor core outlet temperatures of at least 550degC. The particular power cycle investigated in this paper is a supercritical CO 2 recompression Brayton Cycle. The CO 2 recompression Brayton Cycle can be used as either a direct or indirect power conversion cycle, depending on the reactor type and reactor outlet temperature. The advantage of this cycle when compared to the helium Brayton Cycle is the lower required operating temperature; 550degC versus 750degC. However, the supercritical CO 2 recompression Brayton Cycle requires a high end operating pressure in the range of 20 MPa, which is considerably higher than the required helium Brayton cycle high end operating pressure of 7 MPa. This paper presents results of analyses performed using the UniSim process analyses software to evaluate the performance of the supercritical CO 2 recompression Brayton cycle for different reactor coolant outlet temperatures and mass flow rates. The UniSim model assumed a 600 MWt reactor power source, which provides heat to the power cycle at a maximum temperature of between 550degC and 850degC. Sensitivity calculations were also performed to determine the affect of reactor coolant mass flow rates for a reference reactor coolant outlet temperature of 750degC. The UniSim model used realistic component parameters and operating conditions to model the complete power conversion system. CO 2 properties were evaluated, and the operating range for the cycle was adjusted to take advantage of the rapidly changing conditions near the

  20. Helium-air exchange flows through partitioned opening and two-opening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, T. I.

    1997-01-01

    This paper describes experimental investigations of helium-air exchange flows through partitioned opening and two-opening. Such exchange flows may occur following rupture accident of stand pipe in high temperature engineering test reactor. A test vessel with the two types of small opening on top of test cylinder is used for experiments. An estimation method of mass increment is developed to measure the exchange flow rate. Upward flow of the helium and downward flow of the air in partitioned opening system interact out of entrance and exit of the opening. Therefore, an experiment with two-opening system is made to investigate effect of the fluids interaction of partitioned opening system. As a result of comparison of the exchange flow rates between two types of the opening system, it is demonstrated that the exchange flow rate of the two-opening system is larger than that of the partitioned opening system because of absence of the effect of fluids interaction. (author)

  1. Occurrence of turbulent flow conditions in supercritical fluid chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Pauw, Ruben; Choikhet, Konstantin; Desmet, Gert; Broeckhoven, Ken

    2014-09-26

    Having similar densities as liquids but with viscosities up to 20 times lower (higher diffusion coefficients), supercritical CO2 is the ideal (co-)solvent for fast and/or highly efficient separations without mass-transfer limitations or excessive column pressure drops. Whereas in liquid chromatography the flow remains laminar in both the packed bed and tubing, except in extreme cases (e.g. in a 75 μm tubing, pure acetonitrile at 5 ml/min), a supercritical fluid can experience a transition from laminar to turbulent flow in more typical operation modes. Due to the significant lower viscosity, this transition for example already occurs at 1.3 ml/min for neat CO2 when using connection tubing with an ID of 127 μm. By calculating the Darcy friction factor, which can be plotted versus the Reynolds number in a so-called Moody chart, typically used in fluid dynamics, higher values are found for stainless steel than PEEK tubing, in agreement with their expected higher surface roughness. As a result turbulent effects are more pronounced when using stainless steel tubing. The higher than expected extra-column pressure drop limits the kinetic performance of supercritical fluid chromatography and complicates the optimization of tubing ID, which is based on a trade-off between extra-column band broadening and pressure drop. One of the most important practical consequences is the non-linear increase in extra-column pressure drop over the tubing downstream of the column which leads to an unexpected increase in average column pressure and mobile phase density, and thus decrease in retention. For close eluting components with a significantly different dependence of retention on density, the selectivity can significantly be affected by this increase in average pressure. In addition, the occurrence of turbulent flow is also observed in the detector cell and connection tubing. This results in a noise-increase by a factor of four when going from laminar to turbulent flow (e.g. going

  2. Dynamics of superfluid helium-3 in flow channels with restricted geometries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopnin, N.B.

    1986-01-01

    The dynamics of superfluid helium-3 in flow channels with transverse sizes smaller than the mean free path of quasiparticles with respect to collisions with each other is considered, taking into account the diffusive reflection of quasiparticles from the walls. For quasiclassical Green functions the boundary conditions obtained by Ovchinnikov for the similar problem in superconductors have been used. Equations are derived defining the behavior of the difference between chemical potentials of normal and superfluid components of helium-3. These equations describe a phenomenon similar to the branch imbalance (or charge imbalance) in superconductors, and determine the relaxation depth of the pressure gradient in superfluid helium-3. The time-dependent GinzburgLandau equations are also obtained for the order parameter in the case when the transverse size of the channel is close to the critical value when the superfluid transition temperature goes to zero. The approach makes it possible to study theoretically effects related to the overcritical flows of superfluid helium-3 through narrow channels under pressure

  3. Contribution to the study of helium two-phase vertical flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Augyrond, L.

    1998-04-01

    This work aims at a better understanding of the dynamics of helium two-phase flow in a vertical duct. The case of bubble flow is particularly investigated. The most descriptive parameter of two-phase flow is the void fraction. A sensor to measure this parameter was specially designed and calibrated, it is made of a radioactive source and a semiconductor detector. Sensors based on light attenuation were used to study the behaviour of this two-phase flow. The experimental set-up is described. The different flow types were photographed and video filmed. This visualization has allowed to measure the diameter of bubbles and to study their movements in the fluid. Bubble flow then churn and annular flows were observed but slug flow seems not to exist with helium. A modelling based on a Zuber model matches better the experimental results than a Levy type model. The detailed analysis of the signals given by the optical sensors has allowed to highlight a bubble appearance frequency directly linked to the flowrate. (A.C.)

  4. Flow rate control in pressure-programmed capillary supercritical fluid chromatography

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, J.G.M.; Rijks, J.A.; Cramers, C.A.M.G.

    1990-01-01

    A versatile and simple system is described that allows variation of the column flow rate in open-tubular capillary supercritical fluid chromatography using both on-column and postcolumn detection. The system is based on column-effluent splitting in a low-dead-volume T piece at the column exit just

  5. Numerical modeling of supercritical carbon dioxide flow in see-through labyrinth seals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuan, Haomin; Pidaparti, Sandeep; Wolf, Mathew; Edlebeck, John; Anderson, Mark

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • The supercritical carbon dioxide properties were implemented in an open source CFD code OpenFOAM. • Labyrinth seal was simulated with supercritical carbon dioxide to provide guidance for seal design for compressor. • Two-phase capability was implemented to handle the possible appearance of two-phase carbon dioxide. - Abstract: This paper presents a numerical study of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO_2) flow in see-through labyrinth seals. The computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of this scenario is performed under the framework of OpenFOAM. Properties of sCO_2 are implemented into OpenFOAM with a user-defined interface. A test facility was constructed to measure the leakage rate and pressure drop of sCO_2 in see-through labyrinth seals. Various designs and conditions have been tested to study the flow characteristic and provide validation data for the numerical model. The primary goal is to verify the model's capability to predict leakage rate, with a secondary goal focused on using the code to optimize the seal design for sCO_2. This research concludes with some guidelines for the see-through labyrinth seal optimization.

  6. Numerical modeling of supercritical carbon dioxide flow in see-through labyrinth seals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yuan, Haomin, E-mail: hyuan8@wisc.edu [University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Pidaparti, Sandeep, E-mail: sandeep.pidaparti@gmail.com [Georgia Institute of Technology, 495 Tech Way NW, CNES Building, Atlanta, GA 30318 (United States); Wolf, Mathew, E-mail: mpwolf44@gmail.com [University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Edlebeck, John, E-mail: jpedlebeck@gmail.com [University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Anderson, Mark, E-mail: manderson@engr.wisc.edu [University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)

    2015-11-15

    Highlights: • The supercritical carbon dioxide properties were implemented in an open source CFD code OpenFOAM. • Labyrinth seal was simulated with supercritical carbon dioxide to provide guidance for seal design for compressor. • Two-phase capability was implemented to handle the possible appearance of two-phase carbon dioxide. - Abstract: This paper presents a numerical study of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO{sub 2}) flow in see-through labyrinth seals. The computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of this scenario is performed under the framework of OpenFOAM. Properties of sCO{sub 2} are implemented into OpenFOAM with a user-defined interface. A test facility was constructed to measure the leakage rate and pressure drop of sCO{sub 2} in see-through labyrinth seals. Various designs and conditions have been tested to study the flow characteristic and provide validation data for the numerical model. The primary goal is to verify the model's capability to predict leakage rate, with a secondary goal focused on using the code to optimize the seal design for sCO{sub 2}. This research concludes with some guidelines for the see-through labyrinth seal optimization.

  7. Studies on MHD pressure drop and heat transfer of helium-lithium annular-mist flow in a transverse magnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, Akira; Aritomi, Masanori; Takahashi, Minoru; Matsuzaki, Mitsuo; Narita, Yoshihito; Yano, Toshikazu.

    1987-01-01

    Pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient of helium-lithium annular-mist flow in a rectangular duct were investigated experimentally under a transverse magnetic field at system pressure of 0.2 MPa. A ratio of MHD pressure drop to that of non-magnetic field increases with magnetic flux density and a mass flow rate ratio of lithium to helium in low helium velocity region. However, as increasing the helium velocity, the increment of MHD pressure drop with the magnetic flux density is much reduced and then becomes almost zero. At this condition, the MHD pressure drop of the annular-mist flow becomes much smaller than that of lithium single phase flow with the same lithium mass flow at the high magnetic flux density. Heat transfer coefficient ratio of the helium-lithium annular-mist flow to helium single phase in the non-magnetic field is well correlated by a ratio of the mass flow rate of lithium to helium. The heat transfer coefficient in the magnetic field increases with the magnetic flux density and then terminates at a certain value depending on the mass flow rate ratio and the helium velocity. These characteristics of the MHD pressure drop and the heat transfer in the magnetic field suggest that the helium-lithium annular-mist flow is effectively applicable to cooling of the high heat flux wall in a strong magnetic field like a first wall of a magnetic confinement fusion reactors. (author)

  8. Numerical Investigation on Supercritical Heat Transfer of RP3 Kerosene Flowing inside a Cooling Channel of Scramjet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ning Wang

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Supercritical convective heat transfer characteristics of hydrocarbon fuel play a fundamental role in the active cooling technology of scramjet. In this paper, a 2D-axisymmetric numerical study of supercritical heat transfer of RP3 flowing inside the cooling channels of scramjet has been conducted. The main thermophysical properties of RP3, including density, specific heat, and thermal conductivity, are obtained from experimental data, while viscosity is evaluated from a commercial code with a ten-species surrogate. Effects of heat flux, mass flow rate, and inlet temperature on supercritical heat transfer processes have been investigated. Results indicate that when the wall temperature rises above the pseudocritical temperature of RP3, heat transfer coefficient decreases as a result of drastic decrease of the specific heat. The conventional heat transfer correlations, that is, Gnielinski formula, are no longer proper for the supercritical heat transfer of RP3. The modified Jackson and Hall formula, which was proposed for supercritical CO2 and water, gives good prediction except when the wall temperature is near or higher than the pseudocritical temperature.

  9. A liquid helium piston pump with a superconducting drive

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, C.

    1984-01-01

    This chapter describes a bellows pump where the driving force is achieved by an arrangement of three superconducting coils. The pump was designed for use in the supercritical helium flow circuit of the LCT-conductor test facility. The main advantage of the superconducting drive, compared to conventional pumps with external drive, is the compact design. Force transferring parts between 4.2 K and room temperature are not necessary. The pump was tested in a closed loop arrangement. The superconducting drive for a piston pump consists of a moving coil in a constant background field. Other coil configurations and the upscaling of the pump design are discussed

  10. Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Flow Properties of Supersonic Helium-Air Jets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Steven A. E.; Veltin, Jeremy

    2010-01-01

    Heated high speed subsonic and supersonic jets operating on- or off-design are a source of noise that is not yet fully understood. Helium-air mixtures can be used in the correct ratio to simulate the total temperature ratio of heated air jets and hence have the potential to provide inexpensive and reliable flow and acoustic measurements. This study presents a combination of flow measurements of helium-air high speed jets and numerical simulations of similar helium-air mixture and heated air jets. Jets issuing from axisymmetric convergent and convergent-divergent nozzles are investigated, and the results show very strong similarity with heated air jet measurements found in the literature. This demonstrates the validity of simulating heated high speed jets with helium-air in the laboratory, together with the excellent agreement obtained in the presented data between the numerical predictions and the experiments. The very close match between the numerical and experimental data also validates the frozen chemistry model used in the numerical simulation.

  11. Flow analysis in a supercritical water oxidation reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oh, C.H.; Kochan, R.J.; Beller, J.M.

    1996-01-01

    Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO), also known as hydrothermal oxidation (HTO), involves the oxidation of hazardous waste at conditions of elevated temperature and pressure (e.g., 500 C--600 C and 234.4 bar) in the presence of approximately 90% of water and a 10% to 20% excess amount of oxidant over the stoichiometric requirement. Under these conditions, organic compounds are completely miscible with supercritical water, oxygen and nitrogen, and are rapidly oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. The essential part of the process is the reactor. Many reactor designs such as tubular, vertical vessel, and transpiring wall type have been proposed, patented, and tested at both bench and pilot scales. These designs and performances need to be scaled up to a waste throughput 10--100 times that currently being tested. Scaling of this magnitude will be done by creating a numerical thermal-hydraulic model of the smaller reactor for which test data is available, validating the model against the available data, and then using the validated model to investigate the larger reactor performance. This paper presents a flow analysis of the MODAR bench scale reactor (vertical vessel type). These results will help in the design of the reactor in an efficient manner because the flow mixing coupled with chemical kinetics eventually affects the process destruction efficiency

  12. Thermohydraulics of a horizontal diphasic flow of superfluid helium; Thermo-hydraulique d'un ecoulement horizontal d'helium superfluide diphasique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perraud, S

    2007-12-15

    This study aims at characterizing helium two phase flows, and to identify the dependence of their characteristics on various thermo-hydraulic parameters: vapour velocity, liquid height, vapour density, specificities of superfluidity. Both the engineer and the physicist's points of view are taken into consideration: the first one in terms of optimization of a particular cooling scheme based on a two-phase flow, and these second one in terms of more fundamental atomization-related questions. It has been shown that for velocities around 3 to 4 m/s, the liquid phase that was initially stratified undergoes an atomization through the presence of a drop haze carried by the vapor phase.This happens for superfluid helium as well as for normal helium without main differences on atomization.

  13. A liquid helium saver

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avenel, O.; Der Nigohossian, G.; Roubeau, P.

    1976-01-01

    A cryostat equipped with a 'liquid helium saver' is described. A mass flow rate M of helium gas at high pressure is injected in a counter-flow heat exchanger extending from room to liquid helium temperature. After isenthalpic expansion through a calibrated flow impedance this helium gas returns via the low pressure side of the heat exchanger. The helium boil-off of the cryostat represents a mass flow rate m, which provides additional precooling of the incoming helium gas. Two operating regimes appear possible giving nearly the same efficiency: (1) high pressure (20 to 25 atm) and minimum flow (M . L/W approximately = 1.5) which would be used in an open circuit with helium taken from a high pressure cylinder; and (2) low pressure (approximately = 3 atm), high flow (M . L/W > 10) which would be used in a closed circuit with a rubber diaphragm pumping-compressing unit; both provide a minimum theoretical boil-off factor of about 8%. Experimental results are reported. (U.K.)

  14. Analysis of the effect of imbalanced flow on the KSTAR's superconducting magnet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, H. J.; Park, Y. M.; Park, D. S.

    2014-01-01

    The KSTAR superconducting (SC) magnets are cable-in-conduit-conductor (CICC) type magnets, which have a hundred parallel and twisted SC strands in a square conduit with a porosity of 0.36. They are cooled by the forced flow of supercritical helium with a 2 bar pressure drop. A flow imbalance test of the magnet cooling channels, one of the quality assurance processes, was conducted using Ar gas at room temperature during the magnet's manufacture, and was carried out again after assembly. In those tests, the flow imbalance was measured to be within at most ±10% for the all cooling channels, which satisfied the criterion (±20%). During individual tests of the magnets, the tendency of the flow imbalance showed that the mass flow rate of the upper (U) magnets PF1, PF2, PF5, PF6, and PF7 was higher than that of the lower (L) magnets. On the other hand, the mass flow rate of the upper magnets PF3 and PF4 was lower than that of the lower magnets. After assembly, this imbalance became more serious, and the measured mass flow rate of the upper magnets was higher than that of lower magnet at the PF2, PF3 PF4, and PF5 magnets. This imbalance can influence the temperature and the pressure of supercritical helium, as well as accelerate reversal flow and limit operating performance. In this paper, the helium behavior is analyzed and is explained to be due to the flow imbalance in the PF magnet.

  15. A Heat Transfer Correlation in a Vertical Upward Flow of CO2 at Supercritical Pressures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyung Rae; Bae, Yoon Yeong; Song, Jin Ho; Kim, Hwan Yeol

    2006-01-01

    Heat transfer data has been collected in the heat transfer test loop, named SPHINX (Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), in KAERI. The facility primarily aims at the generation of heat transfer data in the flow conditions and geometries relevant to SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor). The produced data will aid the thermohydraulic design of a reactor core. The loop uses carbon dioxide, and later the results will be scaled to the water flows. The heat transfer data has been collected for a vertical upward flow in a circular tube with varying mass fluxes, heat fluxes, and operating pressures. The results are compared with the existing correlations and a new correlation is proposed by fine-tuning the one of the existing correlations

  16. One-dimensional three-field model of condensation in horizontal countercurrent flow with supercritical liquid velocity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trewin, Richard R.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → CCFL in the hot leg of a PWR with ECC Injection. → Three-Field Model of counter flowing water film and entrained droplets. → Flow of steam can cause a hydraulic jump in the supercritical flow of water. → Condensation of steam on subcooled water increases the required flow for hydraulic jump. → Better agreement with UPTF experimental data than Wallis-type correlation. - Abstract: A one-dimensional three-field model was developed to predict the flow of liquid and vapor that results from countercurrent flow of water injected into the hot leg of a PWR and the oncoming steam flowing from the upper plenum. The model solves the conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy in a continuous-vapor field, a continuous-liquid field, and a dispersed-liquid (entrained-droplet) field. Single-effect experiments performed in the upper plenum test facility (UPTF) of the former SIEMENS KWU (now AREVA) at Mannheim, Germany, were used to validate the countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL) model in case of emergency core cooling water injection into the hot legs. Subcooled water and saturated steam flowed countercurrent in a horizontal pipe with an inside diameter of 0.75 m. The flow of injected water was varied from 150 kg/s to 400 kg/s, and the flow of steam varied from 13 kg/s to 178 kg/s. The subcooling of the liquid ranged from 0 K to 104 K. The velocity of the water at the injection point was supercritical (greater than the celerity of a gravity wave) for all the experiments. The three-field model was successfully used to predict the experimental data, and the results from the model provide insight into the mechanisms that influence the flows of liquid and vapor during countercurrent flow in a hot leg. When the injected water was saturated and the flow of steam was small, all or most of the injected water flowed to the upper plenum. Because the velocity of the liquid remained supercritical, entrainment of droplets was suppressed. When the injected

  17. Numerical analysis of flow instability in the water wall of a supercritical CFB boiler with annular furnace

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Beibei; Yang, Dong; Xie, Haiyan; Nie, Xin; Liu, Wanyu

    2016-08-01

    In order to expand the study on flow instability of supercritical circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler, a new numerical computational model considering the heat storage of the tube wall metal was presented in this paper. The lumped parameter method was proposed for wall temperature calculation and the single channel model was adopted for the analysis of flow instability. Based on the time-domain method, a new numerical computational program suitable for the analysis of flow instability in the water wall of supercritical CFB boiler with annular furnace was established. To verify the code, calculation results were respectively compared with data of commercial software. According to the comparisons, the new code was proved to be reasonable and accurate for practical engineering application in analysis of flow instability. Based on the new program, the flow instability of supercritical CFB boiler with annular furnace was simulated by time-domain method. When 1.2 times heat load disturbance was applied on the loop, results showed that the inlet flow rate, outlet flow rate and wall temperature fluctuated with time eventually remained at constant values, suggesting that the hydrodynamic flow was stable. The results also showed that in the case of considering the heat storage, the flow in the water wall is easier to return to stable state than without considering heat storage.

  18. Commissioning and Operational Experience with 1 kW Class Helium Refrigerator/Liquefier for SST-1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhard, C. P.; Sarkar, B.; Misra, Ruchi; Sahu, A. K.; Tanna, V. L.; Tank, J.; Panchal, P.; Patel, J. C.; Phadke, G. D.; Saxena, Y. C.

    2004-06-01

    The helium refrigerator/liquefier (R/L) for the Steady State Super conducting Tokamak (SST-1) has been developed with very stringent specifications for the different operational modes. The total refrigeration capacity is 650 W at 4.5 K and liquefaction capacity of 200 l/h. A cold circulation pump is used for the forced flow cooling of 300 g/s supercritical helium (SHe) for the magnet system (SCMS). The R/L has been designed also to absorb a 200 W transient heat load of the SCMS. The plant consists of a compressor station, oil removal system, on-line purifier, Main Control Dewar (MCD) with associated heat exchangers, cold circulation pump and warm gas management system. An Integrated Flow Control and Distribution System (IFDCS) has been designed, fabricated and installed for distribution of SHe in the toroidal and poloidal field coils as well as liquid helium for cooling of 10 pairs of current leads. A SCADA based control system has been designed using PLC for R/L as well as IFDCS. The R/L has been commissioned and required parameters were achieved confirming to the process. All the test results and commissioning experiences are discussed in this paper.

  19. Numerical Study on the Helium Flow Characteristics for Steam Generator Subsystem of HTR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ha, Jung Hoon; Ham, Jin Ki; Ki, Min-Hwan; Lee, Won Jae

    2014-01-01

    The High Temperature Reactor (HTR), one of the 4th generation reactors, utilizes helium as the primary coolant. A Steam Generator Subsystem (SGS) is installed to transfer heat from the primary coolant to feed water and subsequently produce steam so that it supplies electricity as well as process heat over a wide range. The SGS is composed of a helical heat exchanger, shrouds directing the flow of the shell side helium and support systems, which are located within the steam generator vessel. In this study, helium flow characteristics in the SGS were investigated at various operating conditions using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). A full-scale 3-D model of the SGS was developed and the reynolds stress model with standard wall treatment was used as a turbulence model. The CFD result was compared to that of the concept design of the steam cycle modular helium reactor for the design verification of the SGS. From the CFD analysis, it was found that the primary coolant flow had non-uniform distribution while it passed the inlet in the helical heat exchanger. In order to make the uniform primary coolant flow uniform, a special type of screen was suggested in front of the helical heat exchanger. As a result, the overall design adequacy of the SGS has been evaluated. (author)

  20. Countercurrent flow of supercritical anti-solvent in the production of pure xanthophylls from Nannochloropsis oculata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Yueh-Cheng; Wang, Yuan-Chuen; Shieh, Chwen-Jen; Lin, Justin Chun-Te; Chang, Chieh-Ming J; Han, Esther

    2012-08-10

    This study examined pilot scaled elution chromatography coupled with supercritical anti-solvent precipitation (using countercurrent flow) in generating zeaxanthin-rich particulates from a micro-algal species. Ultrasonic agitated acetone extract subjected to column fractionation successfully yielded a fraction containing 349.4 mg/g of zeaxanthin with a recovery of 85%. Subsequently, supercritical anti-solvent (SAS) precipitation of the column fraction at 150 bar and 343 K produced submicron-sized particulates with a concentration of 845.5mg/g of zeaxanthin with a recovery of 90%. Experimental results from a two-factor response surface method SAS precipitation indicated that purity, mean size and morphology of the precipitates were significantly affected by the flow type configuration, feed flow rate and injection time. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Lateral and vertical facies relationships of bedforms deposited by aggrading supercritical flows: From cyclic steps to humpback dunes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Jörg; Winsemann, Jutta

    2013-10-01

    The preservation of bedforms related to supercritical flows and hydraulic jumps is commonly considered to be rare in the geologic record, although these bedforms are known from a variety of depositional environments. This field-based study presents a detailed analysis of the sedimentary facies and stacking pattern of deposits of cyclic steps, chutes-and-pools, antidunes and humpback dunes from three-dimensional outcrops. The well exposed Middle Pleistocene successions from northern Germany comprise glacilacustrine ice-contact subaqueous fan and glacial lake-outburst flood deposits. The studied successions give new insights into the depositional architecture of bedforms related to supercritical flows and may serve as an analogue for other high-energy depositional environments such as fluvial settings, coarse-grained deltas or turbidite systems. Deposits of cyclic steps occur within the glacial lake-outburst flood succession and are characterised by lenticular scours infilled by gently to steeply dipping backsets. Cyclic steps formed due to acceleration and flow thinning when the glacial lake-outburst flood spilled over a push-moraine ridge. These bedforms are commonly laterally and vertically truncated and alternate with deposits of chutes-and-pools and antidunes. The subaqueous fan successions are dominated by laterally extensive sinusoidal waveforms, which are interpreted as deposits of aggrading stationary antidunes, which require quasi-steady flows at the lower limit of the supercritical flow stage and high rates of sedimentation. Humpback dunes are characterised by downflow divergent cross-stratification, displaying differentiation into topsets, foresets and bottomsets, and are interpreted as deposited at the transition from subcritical to supercritical flow conditions or vice versa. Gradual lateral and vertical transitions between humpback dunes and antidune deposits are very common. The absence of planar-parallel stratification in all studied successions

  2. Helium-air counter flow in rectangular channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fumizawa, Motoo; Tanaka, Gaku; Zhao, Hong; Hishida, Makoto; Shiina, Yasuaki

    2004-01-01

    This paper deals with numerical analysis of helium-air counter flow in a rectangular channel with an aspect ratio of 10. The channel has a cross sectional area of 5-50 mm and a length of 200 mm. The inclination angle was varied from 0 to 90 degree. The velocity profiles and concentration profiles were analyzed with a computer program [FLUENT]. Following main features of the counter flow are discussed based on the calculated results. (1) Time required for establishing a quasi-steady state counter flow. (2) The relationship between the inclination angle and the flow patterns of the counter flow. (3) The developing process of velocity profiles and concentration profiles. (4) The relationship between the inclination angle of the channel and the velocity profiles of upward flow and the downward flow. (5) The relationship between the concentration profile and the inclination angle. (6) The relationship between the net in-flow rate and the inclination angle. We compared the computed velocity profile and the net in-flow rate with experimental data. A good agreement was obtained between the calculation results and the experimental results. (author)

  3. A flow-through column electrolytic cell for supercritical fluid chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Kazuhiro; Ueki, Tatsuya; Higuchi, Naoyuki; Takahashi, Kouji; Kotani, Akira; Hakamata, Hideki

    2017-10-01

    A novel flow-through column electrolytic cell was proposed as a detector to obtain current signals for supercritical fluid chromatography. The electrochemical cell consisted of two electrodes and its holder, and a working and a counter electrode were fabricated from 192 carbon strings, which were composed of 400 carbon fibers of 10 μm in diameter filled into a heat-shrinkable tube. These electrodes were placed in the center of a holder made from polyether ether ketone blocks and they were separated by polytetrafluoroethylene membrane filters. To evaluate the sensitivity of this cell, a standard solution of ferrocene was injected into the supercritical fluid chromatography system connected to the electrolytic cell. The ferrocene was eluted through a silica gel column using a mixture of a mobile phase of supercritical CO 2 and a modifier of methanol containing ammonium acetate. The current peak area of ferrocene correlated to the ferrocene concentration in the range of 10-400 μmol/L (r = 0.999). Moreover, the limit of detection on the column estimated from a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 was 9.8  × 10 -13  mol. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  4. Forced flow cooling of ISABELLE dipole magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bamberger, J.A.; Aggus, J.; Brown, D.P.; Kassner, D.A.; Sondericker, J.H.; Strobridge, T.R.

    1976-01-01

    The superconducting magnets for ISABELLE will use a forced flow supercritical helium cooling system. In order to evaluate this cooling scheme, two individual dipole magnets were first tested in conventional dewars using pool boiling helium. These magnets were then modified for forced flow cooling and retested with the identical magnet coils. The first evaluation test used a l m-long ISA model dipole magnet whose pool boiling performance had been established. The same magnet was then retested with forced flow cooling, energizing it at various operating temperatures until quench occurred. The magnet performance with forced flow cooling was consistent with data from the previous pool boiling tests. The next step in the program was a full-scale ISABELLE dipole ring magnet, 4.25 m long, whose performance was first evaluated with pool boiling. For the forced flow test the magnet was shrunk-fit into an unsplit laminated core encased in a stainless steel cylinder. The high pressure gas is cooled below 4 K by a helium bath which is pumped below atmospheric pressure with an ejector nozzle. The performance of the full-scale dipole magnet in the new configuration with forced flow cooling, showed a 10 percent increase in the attainable maximum current as compared to the pool boiling data

  5. A Heat Transfer Correlation in a Vertical Upward Flow of CO{sub 2} at Supercritical Pressures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Hyung Rae; Bae, Yoon Yeong; Song, Jin Ho; Kim, Hwan Yeol [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2006-07-01

    Heat transfer data has been collected in the heat transfer test loop, named SPHINX (Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), in KAERI. The facility primarily aims at the generation of heat transfer data in the flow conditions and geometries relevant to SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor). The produced data will aid the thermohydraulic design of a reactor core. The loop uses carbon dioxide, and later the results will be scaled to the water flows. The heat transfer data has been collected for a vertical upward flow in a circular tube with varying mass fluxes, heat fluxes, and operating pressures. The results are compared with the existing correlations and a new correlation is proposed by fine-tuning the one of the existing correlations.

  6. Entropy generation in turbulent mixed convection heat transfer to highly variable property pipe flow of supercritical fluids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohseni, Mahdi; Bazargan, Majid

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • The entropy generation in supercritical fluid flows has been numerically investigated. • The mechanisms of entropy generation are different near and away from the walls. • In the near wall region, the energy dissipation is the deciding parameter. • Away from the wall, the heat transfer is the effective factor in entropy generation. • The bulk Be number is greater in the liquid-like region than in vapor-like region. - Abstract: In this study, a two dimensional CFD code has been developed to investigate entropy generation in turbulent mixed convection heat transfer flow of supercritical fluids. Since the fluid properties vary significantly under supercritical conditions, the changes of entropy generation are large. The contribution of each of the mechanisms of entropy production (heat transfer and energy dissipation) is compared in different regions of the flow. The results show that the mechanisms of entropy generation act differently in the near wall region within the viscous sub-layer and in the region away from the wall. The effects of the wall heat flux on the entropy generation are also investigated

  7. Thermal optimization of the helium-cooled power leads for the SSC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Demko, J.A.; Schiesser, W.E.; Carcagno, R.; McAshan, M.; McConeghy, R.

    1992-01-01

    The optimum thermal design of the power leads for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) will minimize the amount of Carnot work (which is a combination of refrigeration and liquefaction work) required. This optimization can be accomplished by the judicious selection of lead length and diameter. Even though an optimum set of dimensions is found, the final design must satisfy other physical constraints such as maximum allowable heat leak and helium vapor mass flow rate. A set of corresponding lengths and diameters has been determined that meets these requirements for the helium vapor-cooled, spiral-fin power lead design of the SSC. Early efforts by McFee and Mallon investigated optimizing power leads for cryogenic applications with no convection cooling. Later designs utilized the boiled-off helium vapor to cool the lead. One notable design for currents up to several thousand amps is presented by Efferson based on a series of recommendations discussed by Deiness. Buyanov presents many theoretical models and design formulae but does not demonstrate an approach to thermally optimizing the design of a vapor-cooled lead. In this study, a detailed numerical thermal model of a power lead design for the SSC has been developed. It was adapted from the dynamic model developed by Schiesser. This model was used to determine the optimum dimensions that minimize the Carnot refrigeration and liquefaction work due to the leads. Since the SSC leads will be cooled by supercritical helium, the flow of vapor is regulated by a control valve. These leads include a superconducting portion at the cold end. All of the material properties in the model are functions of temperature, and for the helium are functions of pressure and temperature. No pressure drop calculations were performed as part of this analysis. The diameter that minimizes the Carnot work was determined for four different lengths at a design current of 6600 amps

  8. The dissipative flow of superfluid helium-3 through capillaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopnin, N.B.

    1986-01-01

    The equations are obtained which describe the behaviour of the chemical potential (pressure) of the superfluid helium-3 flowing through a narrow capillary, diffusively scattering boundaries being taken into consideration. The possibility is discussed whether the dissipation experimentally observed by Manninen and Pekola can be understood in terms of the phase-slip process

  9. Assessment of a magnet system combining the advantages of cable-in-conduit forced-flow and pool-boiling magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slack, D.; Hassenzahl, W.; Felker, B.; Chaplin, M.

    1993-01-01

    This paper presents an idea for a magnet system that could be used to advantage in tokamaks and other fusion engineering devices. Higher performance designs, specifically newer tokamaks such as those for the international Tokamak Engineering Reactor (ITER) and Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX) use Cable in Conduit Conductor (CICC) forced flow coils to advantage to meet field and current density requirements. Pool boiling magnets lack structural integrity to resist high magnetic forces since helium cooling areas must surround each conductor. A second problem is that any leak can threaten the voltage standoff integrity of the magnet system. This is because a leak can result in low-pressure helium gas becoming trapped by limited conductance in the magnet bundle and low-pressure helium has poor dielectric strength. The system proposed here is basically a CICC system, with it's inherent advantages, but bathed in higher pressure supercritical helium to eliminate the leak and voltage break-down problems. Schemes to simplify helium coolant plumbing with the proposed system are discussed. A brief historical review of related magnet systems is included. The advantages and disadvantages of using higher pressure, supercritical helium in combination with solid electrical insulation in a CICC system are discussed. Related electrical data from some previous works are compiled and discussed

  10. Real-Gas Correction Factors for Hypersonic Flow Parameters in Helium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erickson, Wayne D.

    1960-01-01

    The real-gas hypersonic flow parameters for helium have been calculated for stagnation temperatures from 0 F to 600 F and stagnation pressures up to 6,000 pounds per square inch absolute. The results of these calculations are presented in the form of simple correction factors which must be applied to the tabulated ideal-gas parameters. It has been shown that the deviations from the ideal-gas law which exist at high pressures may cause a corresponding significant error in the hypersonic flow parameters when calculated as an ideal gas. For example the ratio of the free-stream static to stagnation pressure as calculated from the thermodynamic properties of helium for a stagnation temperature of 80 F and pressure of 4,000 pounds per square inch absolute was found to be approximately 13 percent greater than that determined from the ideal-gas tabulation with a specific heat ratio of 5/3.

  11. Effects of Supercritical Environment on Hydrocarbon-fuel Injection

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Bongchul Shin; Dohun Kim; Min Son; Jaye Koo

    2017-01-01

    In this study,the effects of environment conditions on decane were investigated.Decane was injected in subcritical and supercritical ambient conditions.The visualization chamber was pressurized to 1.68 MPa by using nitrogen gas at a temperature of 653 K for subcritical ambient conditions.For supercritical ambient conditions,the visualization chamber was pressurized to 2.52 MPa by using helium at a temperature of 653 K.The decane injection in the pressurized chamber was visualized via a shadowgraph technique and gradient images were obtained by a post processing method.A large variation in density gradient was observed at jet interface in the case of subcritical injection in subcritical ambient conditions.Conversely,for supercritical injection in supercritical ambient conditions,a small density gradient was observed at the jet interface.In a manner similar to that observed in other cases,supercritical injection in subcritical ambient conditions differed from supercritical ambient conditions such as sphere shape liquid.Additionally,there were changes in the interface,and the supercritical injection core width was thicker than that in the subcritical injection.Furthermore,in cases with the same injection conditions,the change in the supercritical ambient normalized core width was smaller than the change in the subcritical ambient normalized core width owing to high specific heat at the supercritical injection and small phase change at the interface.Therefore,the interface was affected by the changing ambient condition.Given that the effect of changing the thermodynamic properties of propellants could be essential for a variable thrust rocket engine,the effects of the ambient conditions were investigated experimentally.

  12. Effects of supercritical environment on hydrocarbon-fuel injection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Bongchul; Kim, Dohun; Son, Min; Koo, Jaye

    2017-04-01

    In this study, the effects of environment conditions on decane were investigated. Decane was injected in subcritical and supercritical ambient conditions. The visualization chamber was pressurized to 1.68 MPa by using nitrogen gas at a temperature of 653 K for subcritical ambient conditions. For supercritical ambient conditions, the visualization chamber was pressurized to 2.52 MPa by using helium at a temperature of 653 K. The decane injection in the pressurized chamber was visualized via a shadowgraph technique and gradient images were obtained by a post processing method. A large variation in density gradient was observed at jet interface in the case of subcritical injection in subcritical ambient conditions. Conversely, for supercritical injection in supercritical ambient conditions, a small density gradient was observed at the jet interface. In a manner similar to that observed in other cases, supercritical injection in subcritical ambient conditions differed from supercritical ambient conditions such as sphere shape liquid. Additionally, there were changes in the interface, and the supercritical injection core width was thicker than that in the subcritical injection. Furthermore, in cases with the same injection conditions, the change in the supercritical ambient normalized core width was smaller than the change in the subcritical ambient normalized core width owing to high specific heat at the supercritical injection and small phase change at the interface. Therefore, the interface was affected by the changing ambient condition. Given that the effect of changing the thermodynamic properties of propellants could be essential for a variable thrust rocket engine, the effects of the ambient conditions were investigated experimentally.

  13. Effects of Gravity on Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hegde, Uday; Hicks, Michael

    2013-01-01

    The effects of gravity on the fluid mechanics of supercritical water jets are being studied at NASA to develop a better understanding of flow behaviors for purposes of advancing supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) technologies for applications in reduced gravity environments. These studies provide guidance for the development of future SCWO experiments in new experimental platforms that will extend the current operational range of the DECLIC (Device for the Study of Critical Liquids and Crystallization) Facility on board the International Space Station (ISS). The hydrodynamics of supercritical fluid jets is one of the basic unit processes of a SCWO reactor. These hydrodynamics are often complicated by significant changes in the thermo-physical properties that govern flow behavior (e.g., viscosity, thermal conductivity, specific heat, compressibility, etc), particularly when fluids transition from sub-critical to supercritical conditions. Experiments were conducted in a 150 ml reactor cell under constant pressure with water injections at various flow rates. Flow configurations included supercritical jets injected into either sub-critical or supercritical water. Profound gravitational influences were observed, particularly in the transition to turbulence, for the flow conditions under study. These results will be presented and the parameters of the flow that control jet behavior will be examined and discussed.

  14. A flow reactor for the flow supercritical water oxidation of wastes to mitigate the reactor corrosion problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chitanvis, S.M.

    1994-01-01

    We have designed a flow tube reactor for supercritical water oxidation of wastes that confines the oxidation reaction to the vicinity of the axis of the tube. This prevents high temperatures and reactants as well as reaction products from coming in intimate contact with reactor walls. This implies a lessening of corrosion of the walls of the reactor. We display numerical simulations for a vertical reactor with conservative design parameters that illustrate our concept. We performed our calculations for the destruction of sodium nitrate by ammonium hydroxide In the presence of supercritical water, where the production of sodium hydroxide causes corrosion. We have compared these results with that for a horizontal set-up where the sodium hydroxide created during the reaction ends up on the floor of the tube, implying a higher probability of corrosion

  15. Visualization study of helium-air counter flow through a small opening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fumizawa, Motoo

    2007-01-01

    Buoyancy-driven counter flows of helium-air were investigated through horizontal and inclined small openings. Counter flows may occur following a window opening as ventilation, fire in the room as well as a pipe rupture accident in a high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor. The experiment has carried out by a test chamber filled with helium and flow was visualized by the smoke wire method. The flow behavior has recorded by a high-speed camera with a computer system. The image of the flow was transferred to the digital data, thus the flow velocity was measured by PTV software. The mass fraction in the test chamber was measured by electronic balance. The detected data was arranged by the densimetric Floude number of the counter flow rate that derived from the dimensional analysis. The method of mass increment was developed and applied to measure the counter flow rate. By removing the cover plate placed on the top of the opening, the counter flow initiated. Air enters the test chamber and the mass of the gas mixture in the test chamber increased. The volumetric counter flow rate was evaluated from the mass increment data. In the case of inclination openings, the results of both methods were compared. The inclination angle for maximum densimetric Floude number decreased with increasing length-to-diameter ratio of the opening. For a horizontal opening, the results from the method of mass increment agreed with those obtained by other authors for a water-brine system. (author)

  16. Features of supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle coupled with reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duan Chengjie; Wang Jie; Yang Xiaoyong

    2010-01-01

    In order to obtain acceptable cycle efficiency, current helium gas turbine power cycle technology needs high cycle temperature which means that the cycle needs high core-out temperature. The technology has high requirements on reactor structure and fuel elements materials, and also on turbine manufacture. While utilizing CO 2 as cycle working fluid, it can guarantee to lower the cycle temperature and turbo machine Janume but achieve the same cycle efficiency, so as to enhance the safety and economy of reactor. According to the laws of thermodynamics, a calculation model of supercritical CO 2 power cycle was established to analyze the feature, and the decisive parameters of the cycle and also investigate the effect of each parameter on the cycle efficiency in detail were obtained. The results show that supercritical CO 2 power cycle can achieve quite satisfied efficiency at a lower cycle highest temperature than helium cycle, and CO 2 is a promising working fluid. (authors)

  17. Investigation of Countercurrent Helium-Air Flows in Air-ingress Accidents for VHTRs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun, Xiaodong; Christensen, Richard; Oh, Chang

    2013-10-03

    The primary objective of this research is to develop an extensive experimental database for the air- ingress phenomenon for the validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses. This research is intended to be a separate-effects experimental study. However, the project team will perform a careful scaling analysis prior to designing a scaled-down test facility in order to closely tie this research with the real application. As a reference design in this study, the team will use the 600 MWth gas turbine modular helium reactor (GT-MHR) developed by General Atomic. In the test matrix of the experiments, researchers will vary the temperature and pressure of the helium— along with break size, location, shape, and orientation—to simulate deferent scenarios and to identify potential mitigation strategies. Under support of the Department of Energy, a high-temperature helium test facility has been designed and is currently being constructed at Ohio State University, primarily for high- temperature compact heat exchanger testing for the VHTR program. Once the facility is in operation (expected April 2009), this study will utilize high-temperature helium up to 900°C and 3 MPa for loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) depressurization and air-ingress experiments. The project team will first conduct a scaling study and then design an air-ingress test facility. The major parameter to be measured in the experiments is oxygen (or nitrogen) concentration history at various locations following a LOCA scenario. The team will use two measurement techniques: 1) oxygen (or similar type) sensors employed in the flow field, which will introduce some undesirable intrusiveness, disturbing the flow, and 2) a planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging technique, which has no physical intrusiveness to the flow but requires a transparent window or test section that the laser beam can penetrate. The team will construct two test facilities, one for high-temperature helium tests with

  18. Correlation of supercritical-fluid extraction recoveries with supercritical-fluid chromatographic retention data: A fundamental study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lou, X.W.; Janssen, J.G.M.; Cramers, C.A.M.G.

    1995-01-01

    The possibility of using supercritical-fluid chromatographic retention data for examining the effects of operational parameters, such as pressure and flow rate, on the extraction characteristics in supercritical-fluid extraction (SFE) was investigated. A model was derived for calculating the

  19. Functional Analysis of the Distribution Box of the KSTAR Helium Refrigerator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, H. S.; Kim, Y. S.; Bak, J. S.

    2005-01-01

    KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) is a tokamak device with 30 superconducting (SC) magnet coils. The main duty of the KSTAR helium refrigerator is to keep all cold components of KSTAR (SC magnet coils, magnet structures, SC bus-lines, current lead system, and thermal shields) at suitable temperatures in order to operate the SC magnet coils consistent with the operation scenario of KSTAR. A distribution box (D/B) which is equipped with helium-property-measuring sensors, cryogenic valves (CV's), cryogenic circulators, and heat exchangers (HX's) submerged in a huge liquid helium (LHe) bath (thermal damper), intervenes the cryogenic helium via cryogenic transfer lines (TL's) between the refrigerator cold box (C/B) and the KSTAR cold components. The major functions of the D/B can be classified as listed below: i) Supplying the proper cryogen to the respective cold components of KSTAR during various operation modes (including the idle mode). ii) Cool/re-cool down of the KSTAR cold components from any temperature down to their operating cryogenic temperature within the constraints of time and temperature difference between the components. iii) Protection of the KSTAR cold components and refrigerator from damaging in case of probable abnormal events. iv) Simulation of the temporal variation of the thermal load and pressure drops occurring in the KSTAR cold components to pre-commission the refrigerator and test the cryogenic circulators. v) SC coil/bus-line cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) cleaning. Since the helium flow in the thermal shields (TS's) is rather routine and the current lead (CL) system has its own helium distribution system, in this proceeding mainly the supercritical helium (SHe) circuits of the SC magnets and bus-lines will be discussed

  20. Study of thermal hydraulic behavior of supercritical water flowing through fuel rod bundles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thakre, Sachin; Lakshmanan, S.P.; Kulkarni, Vinayak; Pandey, Manmohan

    2009-01-01

    Investigations on thermal-hydraulic behavior in Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) fuel assembly have obtained a significant attention in the international SCWR community because of its potential to obtain high thermal efficiency and compact design. Present work deals with CFD analysis to study the flow and heat transfer behavior of supercritical water in 4 metre long 7-pin fuel bundle using commercial CFD package ANSYS CFX for single phase steady state conditions. Considering the symmetric conditions, 1/12th part of the fuel rod bundle is taken as a domain of analysis. RNG K-epsilon model with scalable wall functions is used for modeling the turbulence behavior. Constant heat flux boundary condition is applied at the fuel rod surface. IAPWS equations of state are used to compute thermo-physical properties of supercritical water. Sharp variations in its thermo-physical properties (specific heat, density) are observed near the pseudo-critical temperature causing sharp change in heat transfer coefficient. The pseudo-critical point initially appears in the gaps among heated fuel rods, and then spreads radially outward reaching the adiabatic wall as the flow goes downstream. The enthalpy gain in the centre of the channel is much higher than that in the wall region. Non-uniformity in the circumferential distribution of surface temperature and heat transfer coefficient is observed which is in agreement with published literature. Heat transfer coefficient is high on the rod surface near the tight region and decreases as the distance between rod surfaces increases. (author)

  1. Study of steam, helium and supercritical CO2 turbine power generations in prototype fusion power reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishiyama, Shintaro; Muto, Yasushi; Kato, Yasuyoshi; Nishio, Satoshi; Hayashi, Takumi; Nomoto, Yasunobu

    2008-01-01

    Power generation systems such as steam turbine cycle, helium turbine cycle and supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) turbine cycle are examined for the prototype nuclear fusion reactor. Their achievable cycle thermal efficiencies are revealed to be 40%, 34% and 42% levels for the heat source outlet coolant temperature of 480degC, respectively, if no other restriction is imposed. In the current technology, however, low temperature divertor heat source is included. In this actual case, the steam turbine system and the S-CO 2 turbine system were compared in the light of cycle efficiency and plant cost. The values of cycle efficiency were 37.7% and 36.4% for the steam cycle and S-CO 2 cycle, respectively. The construction cost was estimated by means of component volume. The volume became 16,590 m 3 and 7240 m 3 for the steam turbine system and S-CO 2 turbine system, respectively. In addition, separation of permeated tritium from the coolant is much easier in S-CO 2 than in H 2 O. Therefore, the S-CO 2 turbine system is recommended to the fusion reactor system than the steam turbine system. (author)

  2. Advanced Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anderson, Mark [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Sienicki, James [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Moisseytsev, Anton [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Nellis, Gregory [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Klein, Sanford [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

    2015-10-21

    Fluids operating in the supercritical state have promising characteristics for future high efficiency power cycles. In order to develop power cycles using supercritical fluids, it is necessary to understand the flow characteristics of fluids under both supercritical and two-phase conditions. In this study, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) methodology was developed for supercritical fluids flowing through complex geometries. A real fluid property module was implemented to provide properties for different supercritical fluids. However, in each simulation case, there is only one species of fluid. As a result, the fluid property module provides properties for either supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) or supercritical water (SCW). The Homogeneous Equilibrium Model (HEM) was employed to model the two-phase flow. HEM assumes two phases have same velocity, pressure, and temperature, making it only applicable for the dilute dispersed two-phase flow situation. Three example geometries, including orifices, labyrinth seals, and valves, were used to validate this methodology with experimental data. For the first geometry, S-CO2 and SCW flowing through orifices were simulated and compared with experimental data. The maximum difference between the mass flow rate predictions and experimental measurements is less than 5%. This is a significant improvement as previous works can only guarantee 10% error. In this research, several efforts were made to help this improvement. First, an accurate real fluid module was used to provide properties. Second, the upstream condition was determined by pressure and density, which determines supercritical states more precise than using pressure and temperature. For the second geometry, the flow through labyrinth seals was studied. After a successful validation, parametric studies were performed to study geometric effects on the leakage rate. Based on these parametric studies, an optimum design strategy for the see

  3. An experimental investigation of flow instability between two heated parallel channels with supercritical water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xi, Xi; Xiao, Zejun, E-mail: fabulous_2012@sina.com; Yan, Xiao; Li, Yongliang; Huang, Yanping

    2014-10-15

    Highlights: • Flow instability experiment between two heated channels with supercritical water is carried out. • Two kinds of out of phase flow instability are found and instability boundaries under different working conditions are obtained. • Dynamics characteristics of flow instability are analyzed. - Abstract: Super critical water reactor (SCWR) is the generation IV nuclear reactor in the world. Under normal operation, water enters SCWR from cold leg with a temperature of 280 °C and then leaves the core with a temperature of 500 °C. Due to the sharp change of temperature, there is a huge density change in the core, which could result in potential flow instability and the safety of reactor would be threatened consequently. So it is necessary to carry out relevant investigation in this field. An experimental investigation which concerns with out of phase flow instability between two heated parallel channels with supercritical water has been carried out in this paper. Due to two INCONEL 625 pipes with a thickness of 6.5 mm are adopted, more experimental results are attained. To find out the influence of axial power shape on the onset of flow instability, each heated channel is divided into two sections and the heating power of each section can be controlled separately. Finally the instability boundaries are obtained under different inlet temperatures, axial power shapes, total inlet mass flow rates and system pressures. The dynamics characteristics of out of phase oscillation are also analyzed.

  4. Heat-Transfer characteristics of Supercritical Water flowing upward in bare-tubes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sidawi, K., E-mail: khalil.sidawi@uoit.ca [University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Sciences, Oshawa, ON (Canada)

    2015-07-01

    There has been many correlations developed for Supercritical Water (SCW) flowing in bare-tubes. These correlations, generally, have limits based on the experimental trials. However, this does not indicate the true range to which these correlations can be applied. Furthermore, increases in heat flux and decreases in mass flux have been known to lead to Deteriorated Heat-Transfer (DHT). One way to classify fluids in the supercritical region is to use the Eckert Number to differentiate between two different sub-states{sup 1} ; when T < T{sub pc}, SCW is considered to be liquid-like, whereas at T > T{sub pc}, SCW is considered to be gas-like. There is a significant decrease in RMS error for calculated HTC in trials where there is a single sub-state across the cross-section. Trials where there is a combination of sub-states have drastically higher RMS error for HTC. Furthermore, some trials indicate a decrease in HTC at the interphase between the two sub-states. (author)

  5. Josephson effect in superfluid helium 3 during flow through small hole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopnin, N.B.

    1986-01-01

    The Josephson current flowing in helium 3 through a small hole near the critical temperature is calculated. In diffusion particle reflection from vessel walls the critical current is proportional to (T c -T) 2 , and in mirror reflection it is proportional to (T c -T)

  6. Reactive turbulent flow CFD study in supercritical water oxidation process: application to a stirred double shell reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moussiere, S.

    2006-12-01

    Supercritical water oxidation is an innovative process to treat organic liquid waste which uses supercritical water properties to mix efficiency the oxidant and the organic compounds. The reactor is a stirred double shell reactor. In the step of adaptation to nuclear constraints, the computational fluid dynamic modeling is a good tool to know required temperature field in the reactor for safety analysis. Firstly, the CFD modeling of tubular reactor confirms the hypothesis of an incompressible fluid and the use of k-w turbulence model to represent the hydrodynamic. Moreover, the EDC model is as efficiency as the kinetic to compute the reaction rate in this reactor. Secondly, the study of turbulent flow in the double shell reactor confirms the use of 2D axisymmetric geometry instead of 3D geometry to compute heat transfer. Moreover, this study reports that water-air mixing is not in single phase. The reactive turbulent flow is well represented by EDC model after adaptation of initial conditions. The reaction rate in supercritical water oxidation reactor is mainly controlled by the mixing. (author)

  7. Assessment of gas cooled fast reactor with indirect supercritical CO2 cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hejzlar, P.; Driscoll, M. J.; Dostal, V.; Dumaz, P.; Poullennec, G.; Alpy, N.

    2006-01-01

    Various indirect power cycle options for a helium cooled Gas cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) with particular focus on a supercritical CO 2 (SCO 2 ) indirect cycle are investigated as an alternative to a helium cooled direct cycle GFR. The Balance Of Plant (BOP) options include helium-nitrogen Brayton cycle, supercritical water Rankine cycle, and SCO 2 recompression Brayton power cycle in three versions: (1) basic design with turbine inlet temperature of 550 .deg. C, (2) advanced design with turbine inlet temperature of 650 .deg. C and (3) advanced design with the same turbine inlet temperature and reduced compressor inlet temperature. The indirect SCO 2 recompression cycle is found attractive since in addition to easier BOP maintenance it allows significant reduction of core outlet temperature, making design of the primary system easier while achieving very attractive efficiencies comparable to or slightly lower than, the efficiency of the reference GFR direct cycle design. In addition, the indirect cycle arrangement allows significant reduction of the GFR 'proximate-containment' and the BOP for the SCO 2 cycle is very compact. Both these factors will lead to reduced capital cost

  8. Flow visualization in superfluid helium-4 using He2 molecular tracers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Wei

    Flow visualization in superfluid helium is challenging, yet crucial for attaining a detailed understanding of quantum turbulence. Two problems have impeded progress: finding and introducing suitable tracers that are small yet visible; and unambiguous interpretation of the tracer motion. We show that metastable He2 triplet molecules are outstanding tracers compared with other particles used in helium. These molecular tracers have small size and relatively simple behavior in superfluid helium: they follow the normal fluid motion at above 1 K and will bind to quantized vortex lines below about 0.6 K. A laser-induced fluorescence technique has been developed for imaging the He2 tracers. We will present our recent experimental work on studying the normal-fluid motion by tracking thin lines of He2 tracers created via femtosecond laser-field ionization in helium. We will also discuss a newly launched experiment on visualizing vortex lines in a magnetically levitated superfluid helium drop by imaging the He2 tracers trapped on the vortex cores. This experiment will enable unprecedented insight into the behavior of a rotating superfluid drop and will untangle several key issues in quantum turbulence research. We acknowledge the support from the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-1507386 and the US Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FG02 96ER40952.

  9. Propagation of atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet into ambient air at laminar gas flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinchuk, M.; Stepanova, O.; Kurakina, N.; Spodobin, V.

    2017-05-01

    The formation of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in a gas flow passing through the discharge gap depends on both gas-dynamic properties and electrophysical parameters of the plasma jet generator. The paper presents the results of experimental and numerical study of the propagation of the APPJ in a laminar flow of helium. A dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) generated inside a quartz tube equipped with a coaxial electrode system, which provided gas passing through it, served as a plasma source. The transition of the laminar regime of gas flow into turbulent one was controlled by the photography of a formed plasma jet. The corresponding gas outlet velocity and Reynolds numbers were revealed experimentally and were used to simulate gas dynamics with OpenFOAM software. The data of the numerical simulation suggest that the length of plasma jet at the unvarying electrophysical parameters of DBD strongly depends on the mole fraction of ambient air in a helium flow, which is established along the direction of gas flow.

  10. Combined measurements on stationary flow of helium II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ijsselstein, R.R.

    1979-01-01

    Transport phenomena in helium II can in principle be described by a two fluid model. One of the fluids, the superfluid component, carries no entropy and has no viscosity while its velocity field is curl free. The other, the normal component, behaves like an ordinary fluid and carries the entropy of the whole liquid. In measuring flow two different methods are required because of the two independent velocity fields. This thesis describes an experiment where both techniques are applied to flow through a capillary of 0.62 mm, enabling direct comparison. The apparatus is described, and details of the measuring techniques are reported. An extended treatment of second-sound phenomena in a Helmholtz resonator is given. The results of the measurements are reported and discussed. (Auth.)

  11. Observation of helium flow induced beam orbit oscillations at RHIC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montag, C.; Bonati, R.; Brennan, J.M.; Butler, J.; Cameron, P.; Ganetis, G.; He, P.; Hirzel, W.; Jia, L.X.; Koello, P.; Louie, W.; McIntyre, G.; Nicoletti, A.; Rank, J.; Roser, T.; Satogata, T.; Schmalzle, J.; Sidi-Yekhlef, A.; Sondericker, J.; Tallerico, T.

    2006-01-01

    Horizontal beam orbit jitter at frequencies around 10 Hz has been observed at RHIC for several years. The distinct frequencies of this jitter have been found at superconducting low-beta quadrupole triplet magnets around the ring, where they coincide with mechanical vibration modes of the cold masses. Recently, we have identified liquid helium flow as the driving force of these oscillations

  12. Investigation on heat transfer characteristics and flow performance of Methane at supercritical pressures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xian, Hong Wei; Oumer, A. N.; Basrawi, F.; Mamat, Rizalman; Abdullah, A. A.

    2018-04-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate the heat transfer and flow characteristic of cryogenic methane in regenerative cooling system at supercritical pressures. The thermo-physical properties of supercritical methane were obtained from the National institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) webbook. The numerical model was developed based on the assumptions of steady, turbulent and Newtonian flow. For mesh independence test and model validation, the simulation results were compared with published experimental results. The effect of four different performance parameter ranges namely inlet pressure (5 to 8 MPa), inlet temperature (120 to 150 K), heat flux (2 to 5 MW/m2) and mass flux (7000 to 15000 kg/m2s) on heat transfer and flow performances were investigated. It was found that the simulation results showed good agreement with experimental data with maximum deviation of 10 % which indicates the validity of the developed model. At low inlet temperature, the change of specific heat capacity at near-wall region along the tube length was not significant while the pressure drop registered was high. However, significant variation was observed for the case of higher inlet temperature. It was also observed that the heat transfer performance and pressure drop penalty increased when the mass flux was increased. Regarding the effect of inlet pressure, the heat transfer performance and pressure drop results decreased when the inlet pressure is increased.

  13. Propagation of atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet into ambient air at laminar gas flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinchuk, M; Kurakina, N; Spodobin, V; Stepanova, O

    2017-01-01

    The formation of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in a gas flow passing through the discharge gap depends on both gas-dynamic properties and electrophysical parameters of the plasma jet generator. The paper presents the results of experimental and numerical study of the propagation of the APPJ in a laminar flow of helium. A dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) generated inside a quartz tube equipped with a coaxial electrode system, which provided gas passing through it, served as a plasma source. The transition of the laminar regime of gas flow into turbulent one was controlled by the photography of a formed plasma jet. The corresponding gas outlet velocity and Reynolds numbers were revealed experimentally and were used to simulate gas dynamics with OpenFOAM software. The data of the numerical simulation suggest that the length of plasma jet at the unvarying electrophysical parameters of DBD strongly depends on the mole fraction of ambient air in a helium flow, which is established along the direction of gas flow. (paper)

  14. Continuous Hydrothermal Flow Synthesis of LaCrO3 in Supercritical Water and Its Application in Dual-Phase Oxygen Transport Membranes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xu, Yu; Pirou, Stéven; Zielke, Philipp

    2018-01-01

    The continuous production of LaCrO3 particles (average edge size 639 nm, cube-shaped) by continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis using supercritical water is reported for the first time. By varying the reaction conditions, it was possible to suggest a reaction mechanism for the formation of this p......The continuous production of LaCrO3 particles (average edge size 639 nm, cube-shaped) by continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis using supercritical water is reported for the first time. By varying the reaction conditions, it was possible to suggest a reaction mechanism for the formation...

  15. Selection of a cryostabilized Nb3Sn conductor cooling system for the large coil program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chi, J.W.H.; Murphy, J.H.; Jones, C.K.

    1977-01-01

    The Large Coil Project (LCP) is a program to design, fabricate and test relatively large superconducting toroidal field coils for tokamak fusion reactor applications. Some basic requirements that affect the conductor design are cryostabilization, 8 tesla peak magnetic field, and a specified maximum refrigeration load. The engineering considerations that led to the selection of a forced flow supercritical helium-cooled cable conductor are described. Comparisons of forced flow supercritical helium cooled cable conductors with pool boiling cooled monolithic conductors were made with regard to a number of factors such as the thermal capacity of the coolant, the thermal design margins, propensity for conductor normalization, predictability of the thermal-flow performance, controllability of the cooling conditions, etc. It was concluded that, although there exists a number of design uncertainties and engineering problems, forced flow supercritical helium cooled conductors can provide a far more reliable coil design than the pool boiling monolithic concept. The design of a cryostabilized Nb 3 Sn hollow cabled conductor involved detailed considerations of the need for fully transposed conductor strands, the nonuniform void and helium flow distributions, heat transfer from the twisted conductor strands, and helium flow rate and pump work requirements. The uncertainties in the design are discussed and the specifications of a reference Nb 3 Sn conductor concept that meets the design requirements and constraints are presented

  16. Large-scale bedforms induced by supercritical flows and wave-wave interference in the intertidal zone (Cap Ferret, France)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaucher, Romain; Pittet, Bernard; Humbert, Thomas; Ferry, Serge

    2017-11-01

    The Cap Ferret sand spit is situated along the wave-dominated, tidally modulated Atlantic coast of western France, characterized by a semidiurnal macrotidal range. It displays peculiar dome-like bedforms that can be observed at low tide across the intertidal zone. These bedforms exhibit a wavelength of ca. 1.2 m and an elevation of ca. 30 cm. They occur only when the incident wave heights reach 1.5-2 m. The internal stratifications are characterized by swaley-like, sub-planar, oblique-tangential, oblique-tabular, as well as hummocky-like stratifications. The tabular and tangential stratifications comprise prograding oblique sets (defined as foresets and backsets) that almost always show variations in their steepness. Downcutting into the bottomsets of the oblique-tangential stratifications is common. The sets of laminae observed in the bedforms share common characteristics with those formed by supercritical flows in flume experiments of earlier studies. These peculiar bedforms are observed at the surf-swash transition zone where the backwash flow reaches supercritical conditions. This type of flow can explain their internal architecture but not their general dome-like (three-dimensional) morphology. Wave-wave interference induced by the geomorphology (i.e. tidal channel) of the coastal environment is proposed as explanation for the localized formation of such bedforms. This study highlights that the combination of supercritical flows occurring in the surf-swash transition zone and wave-wave interferences can generate dome-like bedforms in intertidal zones.

  17. CFD analysis of supercritical water flow and heat transfer in single channel with mixing vane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zuo Guoping; Xie Hongyan; Yu Tao

    2012-01-01

    Three-dimensional rectangular channel with the mixing wane in supercritical water reactor is investigated with CFX. The mixing vane elevation influenced on temperature distribution and flow field are simulated in the model. The results showed the mixing vane cause fluid circumferential flow, making flow hot and cold fluids mixed and fluid temperature uniform distribution, effectively improve the fuel rod surface temperature distribution and reduced hot temperature. Among the mixing wing elevation of 15, 30, 45, 50, 60 and 70 angle, the 30 angle is the best case in improving temperature distribution. (authors)

  18. Large Eddy Simulations of turbulent flows at supercritical pressure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kunik, C.; Otic, I.; Schulenberg, T., E-mail: claus.kunik@kit.edu, E-mail: ivan.otic@kit.edu, E-mail: thomas.schulenberg@kit.edu [Karlsruhe Inst. of Tech. (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2011-07-01

    A Large Eddy Simulation (LES) method is used to investigate turbulent heat transfer to CO{sub 2} at supercritical pressure for upward flows. At those pressure conditions the fluid undergoes strong variations of fluid properties in a certain temperature range, which can lead to a deterioration of heat transfer (DHT). In this analysis, the LES method is applied on turbulent forced convection conditions to investigate the influence of several subgrid scale models (SGS-model). At first, only velocity profiles of the so-called inflow generator are considered, whereas in the second part temperature profiles of the heated section are investigated in detail. The results are statistically analyzed and compared with DNS data from the literature. (author)

  19. Demonstration poloidal coil test facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sato, Masahiko; Kawano, Katumi; Tada, Eisuke

    1989-01-01

    A new compact cryogenic cold compressor was developed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) in collaboration with Isikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (IHI) in order to produce the supercritical helium below 4.2 K for Demonstration Poloidal Coils (DPC) which are forced-flow cooled type superconducting pulse coils. This compressor is one of key components for DPC test facility. The cold compressor reduces pressure in liquid helium bath, which contains liquid helium of around 3,000 l, down to 0.5 atm efficiently. Consequently, supercritical helium down to 3.5 K is produced and supplied to the DPC coils. A centrifugal compressor with dynamic gas bearing is selected as a compressor mechanism to realize high adiabatic efficiency and large flow rate. In this performance tests, the compressor was operated for 220 h at saturated condition from 0.5 to 1.0 atm without any failure. High adiabatic efficiency (more than 60 %) is achieved with wide flow range (25-65 g/s) and the design value is fully satisfied. The compressor can rotate up to 80,000 rpm at maximum then the coil supply temperature of supercritical helium is 3.5 K. (author)

  20. Numerical investigation of heat transfer in upward flows of supercritical water in circular tubes and tight fuel rod bundles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Jue; Oka, Yoshiaki; Ishiwatari, Yuki; Liu Jie; Yoo, Jaewoon

    2007-01-01

    Heat transfer in upward flows of supercritical water in circular tubes and in tight fuel rod bundles is numerically investigated by using the commercial CFD code STAR-CD 3.24. The objective is to have more understandings about the phenomena happening in supercritical water and for designs of supercritical water cooled reactors. Some turbulence models are selected to carry out numerical simulations and the results are compared with experimental data and other correlations to find suitable models to predict heat transfer in supercritical water. The comparisons are not only in the low bulk temperature region, but also in the high bulk temperature region. The two-layer model (Hassid and Poreh) gives a better prediction to the heat transfer than other models, and the standard k-ε high Re model with the standard wall function also shows an acceptable predicting capability. Three-dimensional simulations are carried out in sub-channels of tight square lattice and triangular lattice fuel rod bundles at supercritical pressure. Results show that there is a strong non-uniformity of the circumferential distribution of the cladding surface temperature, in the square lattice bundle with a small pitch-to-diameter ratio (P/D). However, it does not occur in the triangular lattice bundle with a small P/D. It is found that this phenomenon is caused by the large non-uniformity of the flow area in the cross-section of sub-channels. Some improved designs are numerically studied and proved to be effective to avoid the large circumferential temperature gradient at the cladding surface

  1. Heat transfer in vertical pipe flow at supercritical pressures of water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loewenberg, M.F.

    2007-05-01

    A new reactor concept with light water at supercritical conditions is investigated in the framework of the European project ''High Performance Light Water Reactor'' (HPLWR). Characteristics of this reactor are the system pressure and the coolant outlet temperature above the critical point of water. Water is regarded as a single phase fluid under these conditions with a high energy density. This high energy density should be utilized in a technical application. Therefore in comparison with up to date nuclear power plants some constructive savings are possible. For instance, steam dryers or steam separators can be avoided in contrast to boiling water reactors. A thermal efficiency of about 44% can be accomplished at a system pressure of 25MPa through a water heat-up from 280 C to 510 C. To ensure this heat-up within the core reliable predictions of the heat transfer are necessary. Water as the working fluid changes its fluid properties dramatically during the heat up in the core. As such; the density in the core varies by the factor of seven. The motivation to develop a look-up table for heat transfer predications in supercritical water is due to the significant temperature dependence of the fluid properties of water. A systematic consolidation of experimental data was performed. Together with further developments of the methods to derive a look-up table made it possible to develop a look-up table for heat transfer in supercritical water in vertical flows. A look-up table predicts the heat transfer for different boundary conditions (e.g. pressure or heat flux) with tabulated data. The tabulated wall temperatures for fully developed turbulent flows can be utilized for different geometries by applying hydraulic diameters. With the developed look-up table the difficulty of choosing one of the many published correlations can be avoided. In general, the correlations have problems with strong fluid property variations. Strong property variations combined with high heat

  2. Supercritical CO2 Brayton power cycles for DEMO fusion reactor based on Helium Cooled Lithium Lead blanket

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linares, José Ignacio; Herranz, Luis Enrique; Fernández, Iván; Cantizano, Alexis; Moratilla, Beatriz Yolanda

    2015-01-01

    Fusion energy is one of the most promising solutions to the world energy supply. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the suitability of supercritical CO 2 Brayton power cycles (S-CO 2 ) for low-temperature divertor fusion reactors cooled by helium (as defined by EFDA). Integration of three thermal sources (i.e., blanket, divertor and vacuum vessel) has been studied through proposing and analyzing a number of alternative layouts, achieving an improvement on power production higher than 5% over the baseline case, which entails to a gross efficiency (before self-consumptions) higher than 42%. In spite of this achievement, the assessment of power consumption for the circulating heat transfer fluids results in a penalty of 20% in the electricity production. Once the most suitable layout has been selected an optimization process has been conducted to adjust the key parameters to balance performance and size, achieving an electrical efficiency (electricity without taking into account auxiliary consumptions due to operation of the fusion reactor) higher than 33% and a reduction in overall size of heat exchangers of 1/3. Some relevant conclusions can be drawn from the present work: the potential of S-CO 2 cycles as suitable converters of thermal energy to power in fusion reactors; the significance of a suitable integration of thermal sources to maximize power output; the high penalty of pumping power; and the convenience of identifying the key components of the layout as a way to optimize the whole cycle performance. - Highlights: • Supercritical CO 2 Brayton cycles have been proposed for BoP of HCLL fusion reactor. • Low temperature sources have been successfully integrated with high temperature ones. • Optimization of thermal sources integration improves 5% the electricity production. • Assessment of pumping power with sources and sink loops results on 20% of gross power. • Matching of key parameters has conducted to 1/3 of reduction in heat

  3. Flow Rates in Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography and Supercritical Fluid Chromatography: A Tool for Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joris Meurs

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper aimed to develop a standalone application for optimizing flow rates in liquid chromatography (LC, gas chromatography (GC and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC. To do so, Van Deemter’s equation, Knox’ equation and Golay’s equation were implemented in a MATLAB script and subsequently a graphical user interface (GUI was created. The application will show the optimal flow rate or linear velocity and the corresponding plate height for the set input parameters. Furthermore, a plot will be shown in which the plate height is plotted against the linear flow velocity. Hence, this application will give optimized flow rates for any set conditions with minimal effort.

  4. An entropy flow optimization technique for helium liquefaction cycles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minta, M.; Smith, J.L.

    1984-01-01

    This chapter proposes a new method of analyzing thermodynamic cycles based on a continuous distribution of precooling over the temperature range of the cycle. The method gives the optimum distribution of precooling over the temperature range of the cycle by specifying the mass flow to be expanded at each temperature. The result is used to select a cycle configuration with discrete expansions and to initialize the independent variables for final optimization. Topics considered include the continuous precooling model, the results for ideal gas, the results for real gas, and the application to the design of a saturated vapor compression (SVC) cycle. The optimization technique for helium liquefaction cycles starts with the minimization of the generated entropy in a cycle model with continuous precooling. The pressure ratio, the pressure level and the distribution of the heat exchange are selected based on the results of the continuous precooling analysis. It is concluded that the technique incorporates the non-ideal behavior of helium in the procedure and allows the trade-off between heat exchange area and losses to be determined

  5. The cryogenic helium cooling system for the Tokamak physics experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Felker, B.; Slack, D.S.; Wendland, C.R.

    1995-01-01

    The Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX) will use supercritical helium to cool all the magnets and supply helium to the Vacuum cryopumping subsystem. The heat loads will come from the standard steady state conduction and thermal radiation sources and from the pulsed loads of the nuclear and eddy currents caused by the Central Solenoid Coils and the plasma positioning coils. The operations of the TPX will begin with pulses of up to 1000 seconds in duration every 75 minutes. The helium system utilizes a pulse load leveling scheme to buffer out the effects of the pulse load and maintain a constant cryogenic plant operation. The pulse load leveling scheme utilizes the thermal mass of liquid and gaseous helium stored in a remote dewar to absorb the pulses of the tokamak loads. The mass of the stored helium will buffer out the temperature pulses allowing 5 K helium to be delivered to the magnets throughout the length of the pulse. The temperature of the dewar will remain below 5 K with all the energy of the pulse absorbed. This paper will present the details of the heat load sources, of the pulse load leveling scheme operations, a partial helium schematic, dewar temperature as a function of time, the heat load sources as a function of time and the helium temperature as a function of length along the various components that will be cooled

  6. Dynamics of cold helium flow inside a cryoline used for large cryogenic distribution system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Uday; Jadon, Mohit; Choukekar, Ketan; Shukla, Vinit; Patel, Pratik; Kapoor, Himanshu; Shah, Nitin; Muralidhara, Srinivasa; Sarkar, Biswanath

    2015-01-01

    The Cryolines, which by definition transfers cryogens from the source, normally a cryogenic plant, to several systems requiring cooling at cryogenic temperature to the level of 4 K and 80 K. The operations of cryolines are normally assumed to be steady state following a cool down from room temperature to the cryogenic temperature. It is to be noted that in a distributed cryogenic system, especially in a nuclear facility such as ITER having confinement definition due to the regulatory requirements, do also attract the attention in the system design that the release from safety valves cannot be allowed inside a building. Therefore, all safety valves need to be discharged inside a confined space, which is a specific space requiring fulfillment of definition for a cryogenic line. The specificity in such cases is that such cryogenic lines will realize dynamic conditions for each release of safety valves or a combination of safety valves in terms of pressure, temperature and flow, leading to unexpected failures. Such operating scenarios also lead to serious impact on fatigue with a question mark on the reliability. Therefore, one can define such cryolines as Relief Collection Header (RCH) which collects discharged helium and transport it to the appropriate place as defined in the system design. The discharges of cold helium from safety relief discharge ports of equipment can result into significantly unsteady and compressible flow in RCH. The proper design of the RCH has to be supported by detailed dynamic of expected flow phenomena for specific cases. The paper presents the dynamics of cold helium flow inside the typical RCH that has been performed to investigate the variation in flow parameters (pressure, temperature, velocity and density) along the axis of RCH and predictions on its reliability. (author)

  7. Deposits related to supercritical flows in glacifluvial deltas and subaqueous ice-contact fans: Integrating facies analysis and ground-penetrating radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Joerg; Sievers, Julian; Loewer, Markus; Igel, Jan; Winsemann, Jutta

    2017-04-01

    Bedforms related to supercritical flows have recently received much interest and the understanding of flow morphodynamics and depositional processes has been greatly advanced. However, outcrop studies of these bedforms are commonly hampered by their long wavelengths. Therefore, we combined outcrop-based facies analysis with extensive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) measurements. Different GPR antennas (200, 400 and 1500 MHz) were utilised to measure both long profiles and densely spaced grids in order to map the large-scale facies architecture and image the three-dimensional geometry of the deposits. The studied delta and subaqueous ice-contact fan successions were deposited within ice-dammed lakes, which formed along the margins of the Middle Pleistocene Scandinavian ice sheets across Northern Germany. These glacilacustrine depositional systems are characterised by high aggradation rates due to the rapid expansion and deceleration of high-energy sediment-laden flows, favouring the preservation of bedforms related to supercritical flows. In flow direction, delta foresets commonly display lenticular scours, which are 2 to 6 m wide and 0.15 to 0.5 m deep. Characteristically, scours are filled by upslope dipping backsets, consisting of pebbly sand. In a few cases, massive and deformed strata were observed, passing upflow into backsets. Across flow, scours are 2 to 3 m wide and typically display a concentric infill. The scour fills are commonly associated with subhorizontally or sinusoidal stratified pebbly sand. These facies types are interpreted as deposits of cyclic steps and antidunes, respectively, representing deposition from supercritical density flows, which formed during high meltwater discharge events or regressive slope failures (Winsemann et al., in review). The GPR-sections show that the scour fills form trains along the delta foresets, which can be traced for up to 15 m. The studied subaqueous ice-contact fan succession relates to the zone of flow

  8. Design of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Compressor Testing Loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Seong Gu; Lee, Jeong Ik; Ahn, Yoon Han; Lee, Je Kyoung [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Yoon, Ho Joon; Addad, Yacine [KUSTAR, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

    2012-05-15

    For small and medium-sized reactors and Generation IV reactors such as sodium-cooled fast reactor are recently under development actively. The supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle is considered as an attractive cycle for the above mentioned nuclear systems. This is because the supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle (S-CO{sub 2} cycle) is especially effective to reduce the volume of power generation system, which occupies 1.5{approx}2 times more space than the primary nuclear system in general. Comparing to traditional water-vapor cycle and helium cycle, the S-CO{sub 2} system has relatively much less volume and component size. Therefore, S-CO{sub 2} cycle can be used for many purposes such as nuclear ship propulsion where volume requirement is strict, or a small nuclear reactor when it is constructed on geographically limited area

  9. Transient heat transfer for forced convection flow of helium gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Qiusheng; Fukuda, Katsuya; Sasaki, Kenji; Yamamoto, Manabu

    1999-01-01

    Transient heat transfer coefficients for forced convection flow of helium gas over a horizontal cylinder were measured using a forced convection test loop. The platinum heater with a diameter of 1.0 mm was heated by electric current with an exponential increase of Q 0 exp(t/τ). It was clarified that the heat transfer coefficient approaches the steady-state one for the period τ over 1 s, and it becomes higher for the period of τ shorter than 1 s. The transient heat transfer shows less dependent on the gas flowing velocity when the period becomes very shorter. Semi-empirical correlations for steady-state and transient heat transfer were developed based on the experimental data. (author)

  10. Thermal and hydrodynamic characteristics of supercritical CO2 natural circulation in closed loops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Lin; Deng, Bi-Li; Jiang, Bin; Zhang, Xin-Rong

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► We model thermosyphon heat transfer and stability with super-/trans-critical turbulence model incorporated. ► Potentials of super-/trans-critical CO 2 thermosyphon are confirmed. ► Three characteristics found: flow instability; high flow rate with density wave; heat transfer discrepancies. ► Major laws of system stability factors are different compared with traditional fluids. ► Traditional thermosyphon flow correlation has its limitations and deserves further development. -- Abstract: Natural convective flow of supercritical fluids has become a hot topic in engineering applications. Natural circulation thermosyphon using supercritical/trans-critical CO 2 can be a potential choice for effectively transportation of heat and mass without pumping devices. This paper presents a series of numerical investigations into the fundamental features in a supercritical/trans-critical CO 2 based natural circulation loop. New heat transport model aiming at trans-critical thermosyphon heat transfer and stability is proposed with supercritical/trans-critical turbulence model incorporated. In this study, the fundamentals include the basic flow and heat transfer behavior of the above loop, the effect of heat source temperature on system stability, the effect of loop diameter on natural convection supercritical CO 2 loop and its coupling effect with heat source temperature and the effect of constant changing heat input condition and system behavior evolution during unsteady input or failure conditions. The fundamental potentials of supercritical/trans-critical CO 2 based natural convection system are confirmed. Basic supercritical CO 2 closed loop flow and heat transfer behaviors are clarified. During this study, the CO 2 loop stability map are also put forward and introduced as an important feature of supercritical CO 2 system. Stability factors of natural convective trans-critical CO 2 flow and its implications on real system control are also discussed in

  11. Heat transfer and pressure drop of supercritical carbon dioxide flowing in several printed circuit heat exchanger channel patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, M.; Kruizenga, A.; Anderson, M.; Corradini, M.

    2012-01-01

    Closed-loop Brayton cycles using supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO 2 ) show potential for use in high-temperature power generation applications including High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGR) and Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors (SFR). Compared to Rankine cycles SCO 2 Brayton cycles offer similar or improved efficiency and the potential for decreased capital costs due to a reduction in equipment size and complexity. Compact printed-circuit heat exchangers (PCHE) are being considered as part of several SCO 2 Brayton designs to further reduce equipment size with increased energy density. Several designs plan to use a gas cooler operating near the pseudo-critical point of carbon dioxide to benefit from large variations in thermophysical properties, but further work is needed to validate correlations for heat transfer and pressure-drop characteristics of SCO 2 flows in candidate PCHE channel designs for a variety of operating conditions. This paper presents work on experimental measurements of the heat transfer and pressure drop behavior of miniature channels using carbon dioxide at supercritical pressure. Results from several plate geometries tested in horizontal cooling-mode flow are presented, including a straight semi-circular channel, zigzag channel with a bend angle of 80 degrees, and a channel with a staggered array of extruded airfoil pillars modeled after a NACA 0020 airfoil with an 8.1 mm chord length facing into the flow. Heat transfer coefficients and bulk temperatures are calculated from measured local wall temperatures and local heat fluxes. The experimental results are compared to several methods for estimating the friction factor and Nusselt number of cooling-mode flows at supercritical pressures in millimeter-scale channels. (authors)

  12. Improvement of In-Flight Alumina Spheroidization Process Using a Small Power Argon DC-RF Hybrid Plasma Flow System by Helium Mixture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takana, Hidemasa; Jang, Juyong; Igawa, Junji; Nakajima, Tomoki; Solonenko, Oleg P.; Nishiyama, Hideya

    2011-03-01

    For the further improvement of in-flight alumina spheroidization process with a low-power direct-current radiofrequency (DC-RF) hybrid plasma flow system, the effect of a small amount of helium gas mixture in argon main gas and also the effect of increasing DC nozzle diameter on powder spheroidization ratio have been experimentally clarified with correlating helium gas mixture percentage, plasma enthalpy, powder in-flight velocity, and temperature. The alumina spheroidization ratio increases by helium gas mixture as a result of enhancement of plasma enthalpy. The highest spheroidization ratio is obtained by 4% mixture of helium in central gas with enlarging nozzle diameter from 3 to 4 mm, even under the constant low input electric power given to a DC-RF hybrid plasma flow system.

  13. Helium-air exchange flow through an opening with a partition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Tae-il; Okamoto, Koji; Madarame, Haruki; Fumizawa, Motoo.

    1993-01-01

    The helium-air exchange flow through a small vertical opening with a partition was experimentally investigated. The vertical partition was aligned with the center line of the small opening to evaluate the effects of the multiple openings. The dimensionless exchange flow rates, i.e., Froude numbers, were experimentally obtained with several opening ratios (H 1 /D f ), i.e., the ratio of the height to the effective diameter of the opening. In the case of low opening ratios (H 1 /D f 1 /D f ≥ 0.75), the measured Froude numbers for the multiple openings were larger than those for the single opening, because the upward and downward flows were separated by the vertical partition. Based on the balance between the pressure losses in the openings and the driving force due to density difference, the exchange flow rate was calculated, and found to agree qualitatively with the measured Froude numbers. The effect of the upward and downward flow interaction at the exit of the opening was found to play an important role in the prediction of the Froude number. (author)

  14. Experimental study of elliptical jet from supercritical to subcritical conditions using planar laser induced fluorescence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muthukumaran, C. K.; Vaidyanathan, Aravind, E-mail: aravind7@iist.ac.in [Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala 695547 (India)

    2015-03-15

    The study of fluid jet dynamics at supercritical conditions involves strong coupling between fluid dynamic and thermodynamic phenomena. Beyond the critical point, the liquid-vapor coexistence ceases to exist, and the fluid exists as a single phase known as supercritical fluid with its properties that are entirely different from liquids and gases. At the critical point, the liquids do not possess surface tension and latent heat of evaporation. Around the critical point, the fluid undergoes large changes in density and possesses thermodynamic anomaly like enhancement in thermal conductivity and specific heat. In the present work, the transition of the supercritical and near-critical elliptical jet into subcritical as well as supercritical environment is investigated experimentally with nitrogen and helium as the surrounding environment. Under atmospheric condition, a liquid jet injected from the elliptical orifice exhibits axis switching phenomena. As the injection temperature increases, the axis switching length also increases. Beyond the critical temperature, the axis switching is not observed. The investigation also revealed that pressure plays a major role in determining the thermodynamic transition of the elliptical jet only for the case of supercritical jet injected into subcritical chamber conditions. At larger pressures, the supercritical jet undergoes disintegration and formation of droplets in the subcritical environment is observed. However, for supercritical jet injection into supercritical environment, the gas-gas like mixing behavior is observed.

  15. Experimental study of elliptical jet from supercritical to subcritical conditions using planar laser induced fluorescence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muthukumaran, C. K.; Vaidyanathan, Aravind

    2015-01-01

    The study of fluid jet dynamics at supercritical conditions involves strong coupling between fluid dynamic and thermodynamic phenomena. Beyond the critical point, the liquid-vapor coexistence ceases to exist, and the fluid exists as a single phase known as supercritical fluid with its properties that are entirely different from liquids and gases. At the critical point, the liquids do not possess surface tension and latent heat of evaporation. Around the critical point, the fluid undergoes large changes in density and possesses thermodynamic anomaly like enhancement in thermal conductivity and specific heat. In the present work, the transition of the supercritical and near-critical elliptical jet into subcritical as well as supercritical environment is investigated experimentally with nitrogen and helium as the surrounding environment. Under atmospheric condition, a liquid jet injected from the elliptical orifice exhibits axis switching phenomena. As the injection temperature increases, the axis switching length also increases. Beyond the critical temperature, the axis switching is not observed. The investigation also revealed that pressure plays a major role in determining the thermodynamic transition of the elliptical jet only for the case of supercritical jet injected into subcritical chamber conditions. At larger pressures, the supercritical jet undergoes disintegration and formation of droplets in the subcritical environment is observed. However, for supercritical jet injection into supercritical environment, the gas-gas like mixing behavior is observed

  16. Measurement of OH density and air-helium mixture ratio in an atmospheric-pressure helium plasma jet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yonemori, Seiya; Ono, Ryo; Nakagawa, Yusuke; Oda, Tetsuji

    2012-01-01

    The absolute density of OH radicals in an atmospheric-pressure helium plasma jet is measured using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The plasma jet is generated in room air by applying a pulsed high voltage onto a quartz tube with helium gas flow. The time-averaged OH density is 0.10 ppm near the quartz tube nozzle, decreasing away from the nozzle. OH radicals are produced from water vapour in the helium flow, which is humidified by water adsorbed on the inner surface of the helium line and the quartz tube. When helium is artificially humidified using a water bubbler, the OH density increases with humidity and reaches 2.5 ppm when the water vapour content is 200 ppm. Two-dimensional distribution of air-helium mixture ratio in the plasma jet is also measured using the decay rate of the LIF signal waveform which is determined by the quenching rate of laser-excited OH radicals. (paper)

  17. Cool-down performance of CICC superconducting coils for the CHMFL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Y.; Li, J.; Ouyang, Z. R.

    2017-10-01

    A hybrid magnet composed of a water-cooled magnet and a superconducting magnet was developed at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The superconducting coils made of Nb3Sn CICC were cooled by the forced flow of supercritical helium at 4.5 K. The paper presents the cryogenic system framework, and reports the characteristics of the supercritical helium in a cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC), including the friction factor change during the cooling process, the heat transfer coefficient from 4.6 K to 6.8 K, and the helium mass flow rate distribution. After the 23-day cooling process, the temperature reached 4.5 K. The operation process was introduced in the paper.

  18. Identification of significant process variables for a flow-through supercritical water oxidation reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rossi, R.E.

    1992-05-01

    The effects of four process variables on the destruction efficiency of a flow-through supercritical water oxidation reactor were investigated. These process variables included: (1) reactor throughput (GPH), (2) concentration of the surrogate waste (% acetone), (3) maximum reactor tube-wall temperature (OC), and (4) applied stoichiometric oxygen. The analysis was conducted utilizing two-level factorial experiments, steepest ascent methods, and central composite designs. This experimental protocol assures efficient experimentation and allows for an empirical response surface model of the system to be developed. This experimentation identified a significant positive effect for stoichiometric oxygen applied and temperature variations between 400 to 500 degrees C. The increase in destruction efficiency due to stoichiometric 0 2 provides strong evidence that supercritical water oxidations are catalyzed by excess oxygen, and the strong temperature effect is a result of large increases in the kinetic rates for this temperature range. However, increasing temperature between 550 to 650 degrees C does not provide substantial increases in destruction efficiency. In addition, destruction efficiency is significantly unproved by increasing the Reynolds number and residence time. The destruction efficiency of the reactor is also dependent upon the initial concentration of surrogate waste. This concentration dependence may indicate first-order supercritical CO kinetics is inadequate for describing all waste types and reactor configurations. Alternatively, it may indicate reactant mixing, caused by local turbulence at the oxidation fronts of these higher concentration waste streams, results in higher destruction efficiencies

  19. Numerical Investigation on the Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Supercritical Liquefied Natural Gas in an Airfoil Fin Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger

    OpenAIRE

    Zhongchao Zhao; Kai Zhao; Dandan Jia; Pengpeng Jiang; Rendong Shen

    2017-01-01

    As a new kind of highly compact and efficient micro-channel heat exchanger, the printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) is a promising candidate satisfying the heat exchange requirements of liquefied natural gas (LNG) vaporization at low and high pressure. The effects of airfoil fin arrangement on heat transfer and flow resistance were numerically investigated using supercritical liquefied natural gas (LNG) as working fluid. The thermal properties of supercritical LNG were tested by utilizing t...

  20. Flow Distribution Measurement Feasibility in Supercritical CO2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lance, Blake [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-12-01

    Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) is a fluid of interest for advanced power cycles that can reach thermal to electric energy conversion efficiencies of 50% or higher. Of particular interest for fossil-fired natural gas is the Allam cycle that captures nearly all CO2 emissions and exports it as a fluid stream where it may be of value. The combustion process conditions are unlike any before realized with 90-95% CO2 concentration, temperatures around 1000°C, and pressures near 300 bar. This work outlines the experimental feasibility of flow measurements to acquire the first known data in pure sCO2 at similar but reduced temperature and pressure conditions.

  1. Experimental study on heat transfer to supercritical water flowing in 1- and 4-m-long vertical tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirillov, Pavel; Pomet'ko, Richard; Smirnov, Aleksandr; Grabezhnaia, Vera; Pioro, Igor; Duffey, Romney; Khartabil, Hussam

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents selected on heat transfer to supercritical water flowing upward in 1- and 4-m-long vertical tubes. Supercritical water heat-transfer data were obtained at pressures of 24-25 MPa, mass fluxes of 200 - 1500 kg/m 2 s, heat fluxes up to 1050 kW/m 2 and inlet temperature from 300 to 380degC for several combinations of wall and bulk fluid temperatures that were below, at or above the pseudocritical temperature. In general, the experiments confirmed that there are three heat transfer modes for water at supercritical pressures: (1) normal heat transfer characterized in general with heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) similar to those of subcritical convective heat transfer far from critical or pseudocritical regions, which are calculated according to the Dittus-Boelter type correlations, (2) deteriorated heat transfer with lower values of the HTC and hence higher values of wall temperature within some part of a test section compared to those of normal heat transfer and (3) improved heat transfer with higher values of the HTC and hence lower values of wall temperature within some part of a test section compared to those of normal heat transfer. These new heat-transfer data are applicable as a reference dataset for future comparison with supercritical water bundle data and for the verification of scaling parameters between water and modelling fluids. (author)

  2. Supercritical flows and their control on the architecture and facies of small-radius sand-rich fan lobes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Postma, George; Kleverlaan, Kick

    2018-02-01

    New insights into flow characteristics of supercritical, high-density turbidity currents initiated renewed interest in a sand-rich lobe complex near the hamlet of Mizala in the Sorbas Basin (Tortonian, SE Spain). The field study was done using drone-made images taken along bed strike in combination with physical tracing of bounding surfaces and section logging. The studied lobe systems show a consistent built-up of lobe elements of 1.5-2.0 m thick, which form the building 'blocks' of the lobe system. The stacking of lobe elements shows lateral shift and compensational relief infill. The new model outlined in this paper highlights three stages of fan lobe development: I. an early aggradational stage with lobe elements characterized by antidune and traction-carpet bedforms and burrowed mud intervals (here called 'distal fan' deposits); II. a progradational stage, where the distal fan deposits are truncated by lobe elements of amalgamated sandy to gravelly units characterized by cyclic step bedform facies (designated as 'supra fan' deposits). The supra fan is much more channelized and scoured and of higher flow energy than the distal-fan. Aggradation of the supra-fan is terminated by a 'pappy' pebbly sandstone and by substrate liquefaction, 'pappy' referring to a typical, porridge-like texture indicating rapid deposition under conditions of little-to-no shear. The facies-bounded termination of the supra-fan is here related to its maximum elevation, causing the lobe-feeding supercritical flow to choke and to expand upwards by a strong hydraulic jump at the channel outlet; III. a backfilling stage, characterized by backfilling of the remaining relief with progressively thinning and fining of turbidite beds and eventually with mud. The three-stage development for fan-lobe building is deducted from reoccurring architectural and facies characteristics in three successive fan-lobes. The validity of using experimental, supercritical-flow fan studies for understanding the

  3. Thermal stability of biodiesel in supercritical methanol

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hiroaki Imahara; Eiji Minami; Shusaku Hari; Shiro Saka [Kyoto University, Kyoto (Japan). Department of Socio-Environmental Energy Science

    2008-01-15

    Non-catalytic biodiesel production technologies from oils/fats in plants and animals have been developed in our laboratory employing supercritical methanol. Due to conditions in high temperature and high pressure of the supercritical fluid, thermal stability of fatty acid methyl esters and actual biodiesel prepared from various plant oils was studied in supercritical methanol over a range of its condition between 270{sup o}C/17 MPa and 380{sup o}C/56 MPa. In addition, the effect of thermal degradation on cold flow properties was studied. As a result, it was found that all fatty acid methyl esters including poly-unsaturated ones were stable at 270{sup o}C/17 MPa, but at 350{sup o}C/43 MPa, they were partly decomposed to reduce the yield with isomerization from cis-type to trans-type. These behaviors were also observed for actual biodiesel prepared from linseed oil, safflower oil, which are high in poly-unsaturated fatty acids. Cold flow properties of actual biodiesel, however, remained almost unchanged after supercritical methanol exposure at 270{sup o}C/17 MPa and 350{sup o}C/43 MPa. For the latter condition, however, poly-unsaturated fatty acids were sacrificed to be decomposed and reduced in yield. From these results, it was clarified that reaction temperature in supercritical methanol process should be lower than 300{sup o}C, preferably 270{sup o}C with a supercritical pressure higher than 8.09 MPa, in terms of thermal stabilization for high-quality biodiesel production. 9 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs.

  4. Evaluation and Optimization of a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Power Conversion Cycle for Nuclear Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harvego, Edwin A.; McKellar, Michael G.

    2011-01-01

    There have been a number of studies involving the use of gases operating in the supercritical mode for power production and process heat applications. Supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) is particularly attractive because it is capable of achieving relatively high power conversion cycle efficiencies in the temperature range between 550 C and 750 C. Therefore, it has the potential for use with any type of high-temperature nuclear reactor concept, assuming reactor core outlet temperatures of at least 550 C. The particular power cycle investigated in this paper is a supercritical CO2 Recompression Brayton Cycle. The CO2 Recompression Brayton Cycle can be used as either a direct or indirect power conversion cycle, depending on the reactor type and reactor outlet temperature. The advantage of this cycle when compared to the helium Brayton Cycle is the lower required operating temperature; 550 C versus 850 C. However, the supercritical CO2 Recompression Brayton Cycle requires an operating pressure in the range of 20 MPa, which is considerably higher than the required helium Brayton cycle operating pressure of 8 MPa. This paper presents results of analyses performed using the UniSim process analyses software to evaluate the performance of the supercritical CO2 Brayton Recompression Cycle for different reactor outlet temperatures. The UniSim model assumed a 600 MWt reactor power source, which provides heat to the power cycle at a maximum temperature of between 550 C and 750 C. The UniSim model used realistic component parameters and operating conditions to model the complete power conversion system. CO2 properties were evaluated, and the operating range for the cycle was adjusted to take advantage of the rapidly changing conditions near the critical point. The UniSim model was then optimized to maximize the power cycle thermal efficiency at the different maximum power cycle operating temperatures. The results of the analyses showed that power cycle thermal efficiencies in

  5. A PISO-like algorithm to simulate superfluid helium flow with the two-fluid model

    CERN Document Server

    Soulaine, Cyprien; Allain, Hervé; Baudouy, Bertrand; Van Weelderen, Rob

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a segregated algorithm to solve numerically the superfluid helium (He II) equations using the two-fluid model. In order to validate the resulting code and illustrate its potential, different simulations have been performed. First, the flow through a capillary filled with He II with a heated area on one side is simulated and results are compared to analytical solutions in both Landau and Gorter–Mellink flow regimes. Then, transient heat transfer of a forced flow of He II is investigated. Finally, some two-dimensional simulations in a porous medium model are carried out.

  6. Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of pigments from Bixa orellana seeds (experiments and modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. P. Nobre

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Supercritical CO2 extraction of the pigments from Bixa orellana seeds was carried out in a flow apparatus at a pressure of 200 bar and a temperature of 40 ºC at two fluid flow rates (0.67g/min and 1.12g/min. The efficiency of the extraction was low (only about 1% of the pigment was extracted. The increase in flow rate led to a decrease in pigment recovery. A large increase in recovery (from 1% to 45% was achieved using supercritical carbon dioxide with 5 mol % ethanol as extraction fluid at pressures of 200 and 300 bar and temperatures of 40 and 60 ºC. Although the increase in temperature and pressure led to an increase in recovery, the changes in flow rate did not seem to affect it. Furthermore, two plug flow models were applied to describe the supercritical extraction of the pigments from annatto seeds. Mass transfer coefficients were determined and compared well with those obtained by other researchers with similar models for the supercritical extraction of solutes from plant materials.

  7. Engineering, Manufacture and Preliminary Testing of the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) Magnet Helium Cold Circulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rista, P. E. C.; Shull, J.; Sargent, S.

    2015-12-01

    The ITER cryodistribution system provides the supercritical Helium (SHe) forced flow cooling to the magnet system using cold circulators. The cold circulators are located in each of five separate auxiliary cold boxes planned for use in the facility. Barber-Nichols Inc. has been awarded a contract from ITER-India for engineering, manufacture and testing of the Toroidal Field (TF) Magnet Helium Cold Circulator. The cold circulator will be extensively tested at Barber-Nichols’ facility prior to delivery for qualification testing at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's (JAEA) test facility at Naka, Japan. The TF Cold Circulator integrates features and technical requirements which Barber-Nichols has utilized when supplying helium cold circulators worldwide over a period of 35 years. Features include a vacuum-jacketed hermetically sealed design with a very low helium leak rate, a heat shield for use with both nitrogen & helium cold sources, a broad operating range with a guaranteed isentropic efficiency over 70%, and impeller design features for high efficiency. The cold circulator will be designed to meet MTBM of 17,500 hours and MTBF of 36,000 hours. Vibration and speed monitoring are integrated into a compact package on the rotating assembly with operation and health monitoring in a multi-drop PROFIBUS communication environment using an electrical cabinet with critical features and full local and network PLC interface and control. For the testing in Japan and eventual installation in Europe, the cold circulator must be certified to the Japanese High Pressure Gas Safety Act (JHPGSA) and CE marked in compliance with the European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) including Essential Safety Requirements (ESR). The test methodology utilized at Barber-Nichols’ facility and the resulting test data, validating the high efficiency of the TF Cold Circulator across a broad operating range, are important features of this paper.

  8. Engineering, Manufacture and Preliminary Testing of the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) Magnet Helium Cold Circulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    C Rista, P E; Shull, J; Sargent, S

    2015-01-01

    The ITER cryodistribution system provides the supercritical Helium (SHe) forced flow cooling to the magnet system using cold circulators. The cold circulators are located in each of five separate auxiliary cold boxes planned for use in the facility. Barber-Nichols Inc. has been awarded a contract from ITER-India for engineering, manufacture and testing of the Toroidal Field (TF) Magnet Helium Cold Circulator. The cold circulator will be extensively tested at Barber-Nichols’ facility prior to delivery for qualification testing at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's (JAEA) test facility at Naka, Japan. The TF Cold Circulator integrates features and technical requirements which Barber-Nichols has utilized when supplying helium cold circulators worldwide over a period of 35 years. Features include a vacuum-jacketed hermetically sealed design with a very low helium leak rate, a heat shield for use with both nitrogen and helium cold sources, a broad operating range with a guaranteed isentropic efficiency over 70%, and impeller design features for high efficiency. The cold circulator will be designed to meet MTBM of 17,500 hours and MTBF of 36,000 hours. Vibration and speed monitoring are integrated into a compact package on the rotating assembly with operation and health monitoring in a multi-drop PROFIBUS communication environment using an electrical cabinet with critical features and full local and network PLC interface and control. For the testing in Japan and eventual installation in Europe, the cold circulator must be certified to the Japanese High Pressure Gas Safety Act (JHPGSA) and CE marked in compliance with the European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) including Essential Safety Requirements (ESR). The test methodology utilized at Barber-Nichols’ facility and the resulting test data, validating the high efficiency of the TF Cold Circulator across a broad operating range, are important features of this paper. (paper)

  9. Model validation and parametric study of fluid flows and heat transfer of aviation kerosene with endothermic pyrolysis at supercritical pressure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keke Xu

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The regenerative cooling technology is a promising approach for effective thermal protection of propulsion and power-generation systems. A mathematical model has been used to examine fluid flows and heat transfer of the aviation kerosene RP-3 with endothermic fuel pyrolysis at a supercritical pressure of 5 MPa. A pyrolytic reaction mechanism, which consists of 18 species and 24 elementary reactions, is incorporated to account for fuel pyrolysis. Detailed model validations are conducted against a series of experimental data, including fluid temperature, fuel conversion rate, various product yields, and chemical heat sink, fully verifying the accuracy and reliability of the model. Effects of fuel pyrolysis and inlet flow velocity on flow dynamics and heat transfer characteristics of RP-3 are investigated. Results reveal that the endothermic fuel pyrolysis significantly improves the heat transfer process in the high fluid temperature region. During the supercritical-pressure heat transfer process, the flow velocity significantly increases, caused by the drastic variations of thermophysical properties. Under all the tested conditions, the Nusselt number initially increases, consistent with the increased flow velocity, and then slightly decreases in the high fluid temperature region, mainly owing to the decreased heat absorption rate from the endothermic pyrolytic chemical reactions.

  10. Helium exhaust and forced flow effects with both-leg pumping in W-shaped divertor of JT-60U

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakasai, A.; Takenaga, H.; Higashijima, S.; Kubo, H.; Nakano, T.; Tamai, H.; Sakurai, S.; Akino, N.; Fujita, T.; Asakura, N.; Itami, K.; Shimizu, K.

    2001-01-01

    The W-shaped divertor of JT-60U was modified from inner-leg pumping to both-leg pumping. After the modification, the pumping rate was improved from 3% with inner-leg pumping to 5% with both-leg pumping in a divertor-closure configuration, which means both separatrixes close to the divertor slots. Efficient helium exhaust was realized in the divertor-closure configuration with both-leg pumping. A global particle confinement time of τ* He =0.4s and τ* He /τ E =3 was achieved in attached ELMy H-mode plasmas. The helium exhaust efficiency with both-leg pumping was extended by 45% as compared with inner-leg pumping. By using central helium fueling with He-beam injection, the helium removal from the core plasma inside the internal transport barrier (ITB) in reversed shear plasmas in the divertor-closure configuration was investigated for the first time. The helium density profiles inside the ITB were peaked as compared with those in ELMy H-mode plasmas. In the case of low recycling divertor, it was difficult to achieve good helium exhaust capability in reversed shear plasmas with ITB. However, the helium exhaust efficiency was improved with high recycling divertor. Carbon impurity reduction was observed by the forced flow with gas puff and effective divertor pumping. (author)

  11. Experimental heat transfer to supercritical carbon dioxide flowing upward vertical tube with highly conducting surroundings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Son, Hyung M.; Suh, Kune Y.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Performed experiment for the upward SCO 2 flow surrounded by highly conducting metal. ► Selected dimensionless groups representing the property variations and buoyancy. ► Developed the heat transfer correlation for the mixed thermal boundary condition. ► Wrote a finite element heat transfer code to find the appropriate correlation. ► Coupled the 1D convection and 2D heat conduction via heat transfer coefficient. - Abstract: This paper presents heat transfer characteristics of supercritical carbon dioxide flow inside vertical circular pipe surrounded by highly conducting material, and develops an adequate tool to test the performance of available heat transfer correlations with. The possible situations are illustrated for the nuclear power plant to which the above-mentioned geometric configuration might be applicable. An experimental loop with vertical circular geometry is designed and constructed to test the upward flow in supercritical state when the axial heat transfer is enhanced by the surrounding metals, resulting in a wall boundary condition between the constant heat flux and temperature. The set of correlations and important findings are critically reviewed from extensive literature survey. Incorporating nondimensional groups resorting to past insights from the available literature, a convective heat transfer correlation is proposed. The optimization procedure is described which utilizes a random walk method along with the in-house finite element heat transfer code to determine the coefficients of the proposed heat transfer correlation. The proposed methodology can be applied to evaluation of heat transfer when the heat transfer coefficient data cannot directly be determined from the experiment.

  12. The initial study on supercritical water flow and heat transfer in square rod bundle channel with mixing vane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zuo Guoping; Cao Can; Yu Tao

    2010-01-01

    Three-dimensional rectangular channel with the mixing wine in supercritical water reactor was studied in the paper using the FLUENT software. The mixing wing elevation influence on temperature distribution and flow field were studied in the model. The results showed the mixing wing caused fluid circumferential flow, making flow hot and cold fluids mixed and fluid temperature uniform distribution, effectively improved the fuel rod surface temperature distribution and reduced hot temperature. Among the four cases of mixing wing elevation of 15, 30, 45 and 50 angle, 30 angle is the best case in improving temperature distribution. (authors)

  13. Numerical Investigation on the Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Supercritical Liquefied Natural Gas in an Airfoil Fin Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhongchao Zhao

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available As a new kind of highly compact and efficient micro-channel heat exchanger, the printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE is a promising candidate satisfying the heat exchange requirements of liquefied natural gas (LNG vaporization at low and high pressure. The effects of airfoil fin arrangement on heat transfer and flow resistance were numerically investigated using supercritical liquefied natural gas (LNG as working fluid. The thermal properties of supercritical LNG were tested by utilizing the REFPROF software database. Numerical simulations were performed using FLUENT. The inlet temperature of supercritical LNG was 121 K, and its pressure was 10.5 MPa. The reference mass flow rate of LNG was set as 1.22 g/s for the vertical pitch Lv = 1.67 mm and the staggered pitch Ls = 0 mm, with the Reynolds number of about 3750. The SST k-ω model was selected and verified by comparing with the experimental data using supercritical liquid nitrogen as cold fluid. The airfoil fin PCHE had better thermal-hydraulic performance than that of the straight channel PCHE. Moreover, the airfoil fins with staggered arrangement displayed better thermal performance than that of the fins with parallel arrangement. The thermal-hydraulic performance of airfoil fin PCHE was improved with increasing Ls and Lv. Moreover, Lv affected the Nusselt number and pressure drop of airfoil fin PCHE more obviously. In conclusion, a sparser staggered arrangement of fins showed a better thermal-hydraulic performance in airfoil fin PCHE.

  14. Helium leak testing the Westinghouse LCP coil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Merritt, P.A.; Attaar, M.H.; Hordubay, T.D.

    1983-01-01

    The tests, equipment, and techniques used to check the Westinghouse LCP coil for coolant flow path integrity and helium leakage are unique in terms of test sensitivity and application. This paper will discuss the various types of helium leak testing done on the LCP coil as it enters different stages of manufacture. The emphasis will be on the degree of test sensitivity achieved under shop conditions, and what equipment, techniques and tooling are required to achieve this sensitivity (5.9 x 10 -8 scc/sec). Other topics that will be discussed are helium flow and pressure drop testing which is used to detect any restrictions in the flow paths, and the LCP final acceptance test which is the final leak test performed on the coil prior to its being sent for testing. The overall allowable leak rate for this coil is 5 x 10 -6 scc/sec. A general evaluation of helium leak testing experience are included

  15. Penetration Characteristics of Air, Carbon Dioxide and Helium Transverse Sonic Jets in Mach 5 Cross Flow

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erinc Erdem

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available An experimental investigation of sonic air, CO2 and Helium transverse jets in Mach 5 cross flow was carried out over a flat plate. The jet to freestream momentum flux ratio, J, was kept the same for all gases. The unsteady flow topology was examined using high speed schlieren visualisation and PIV. Schlieren visualisation provided information regarding oscillating jet shear layer structures and bow shock, Mach disc and barrel shocks. Two-component PIV measurements at the centreline, provided information regarding jet penetration trajectories. Barrel shocks and Mach disc forming the jet boundary were visualised/quantified also jet penetration boundaries were determined. Even though J is kept the same for all gases, the penetration patterns were found to be remarkably different both at the nearfield and the farfield. Air and CO2 jet resulted similar nearfield and farfield penetration pattern whereas Helium jet spread minimal in the nearfield.

  16. Experiments on the basic behavior of supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Guangxu [CNNC Key Laboratory on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics Technology, Nuclear Power Institute of China (China); Huang, Yanping, E-mail: hyanping007@163.com [CNNC Key Laboratory on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics Technology, Nuclear Power Institute of China (China); Wang, Junfeng; Lv, Fa [CNNC Key Laboratory on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics Technology, Nuclear Power Institute of China (China); Leung, Laurence K.H. [Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, 286 Plant Road, Chalk River, Ontario (Canada)

    2016-04-15

    Highlights: • Steady-state behavior of supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation was studied. • Effects of pressure and inlet temperature were carefully investigated. • No instabilities were found in present study. • The maximum of mass flow was obtained at outlet temperature much higher than T{sub pc}. • Inlet temperature has vital effect on mass flow rate. - Abstract: To study the steady-state characteristics of supercritical carbon dioxide natural circulation, experiments were carried out in a simple rectangular loop with vertically placed heating section. The effects of system pressure and inlet temperature on the system behavior were also investigated. No instabilities were found in the present experiments. The maximum of mass flow rate was obtained at a heating section outlet temperature much higher than the pseudo-critical temperature. The maximum value of mass flow rate increased with system pressure just as in two-phase natural circulation systems. Inlet temperature significantly affected the steady-state characteristics of supercritical carbon dioxide natural circulation system. A small temperature difference of 14 °C in the natural circulation system could induce a mass flow rate with considerably high Re up to 9.1 × 10{sup 4}, which indicates the potential for supercritical carbon dioxide to be used as a high efficient natural circulation working fluid.

  17. Unsteady supercritical/critical dual flowpath inlet flow and its control methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun LIU

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The characteristics of unsteady flow in a dual-flowpath inlet, which was designed for a Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC propulsion system, and the control methods of unsteady flow were investigated experimentally and numerically. It was characterized by large-amplitude pressure oscillations and traveling shock waves. As the inlet operated in supercritical condition, namely the terminal shock located in the throat, the shock oscillated, and the period of oscillation was about 50 ms, while the amplitude was 6 mm. The shock oscillation was caused by separation in the diffuser. This shock oscillation can be controlled by extending the length of diffuser which reduces pressure gradient along the flowpath. As the inlet operated in critical condition, namely the terminal shock located at the shoulder of the third compression ramp, the shock oscillated, and the period of oscillation was about 7.5 ms, while the amplitude was 12 mm. At this condition, the shock oscillation was caused by an incompatible backpressure in the bleed region. It can be controlled by increasing the backpressure of the bleed region. Keywords: Airbreathing hypersonic vehicle, Dual flowpath inlet, Terminal shock oscillation, Turbine based combined cycle, Unsteady flow

  18. Helium turbo-expander with an alternator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akiyama, Yoshitane

    1980-01-01

    Study was made on a helium turbo-expander, the heart of helium refrigerator systems, in order to develop a system which satisfies the required conditions. A helium turbo-expander with externally pressurized helium gas bearings at the temperature of liquid nitrogen and an alternator as a brake have been employed. The essential difference between a helium turbo-expander and a nitrogen turbo-expander was clarified. The gas bearing lubricated with nitrogen at room temperature and the gas bearing lubricated with helium at low temperature were tested. The flow rate of helium in a helium refrigerator for a large superconducting magnet is comparatively small, therefore a helium turbine must be small, but the standard for large turbine design can be applied to such small turbine. Using the alternator as a brake, the turbo-expander was easily controllable electrically. The prototype turbo-expander was made, and the liquefaction test with it and MHD power generation test were carried out. (Kako, I.)

  19. High-efficiency pump for space helium transfer. Final Technical Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasenbein, R.; Izenson, M.G.; Swift, W.L.; Sixsmith, H.

    1991-12-01

    A centrifugal pump was developed for the efficient and reliable transfer of liquid helium in space. The pump can be used to refill cryostats on orbiting satellites which use liquid helium for refrigeration at extremely low temperatures. The pump meets the head and flow requirements of on-orbit helium transfer: a flow rate of 800 L/hr at a head of 128 J/kg. The overall pump efficiency at the design point is 0.45. The design head and flow requirements are met with zero net positive suction head, which is the condition in an orbiting helium supply Dewar. The mass transfer efficiency calculated for a space transfer operation is 0.99. Steel ball bearings are used with gas fiber-reinforced teflon retainers to provide solid lubrication. These bearings have demonstrated the longest life in liquid helium endurance tests under simulated pumping conditions. Technology developed in the project also has application for liquid helium circulation in terrestrial facilities and for transfer of cryogenic rocket propellants in space

  20. 2D and 3D CFD modelling of a reactive turbulent flow in a double shell supercritical water oxidation reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moussiere, S.; Roubaud, A.; Fournel, B.; Joussot-Dubien, C.; Boutin, O.; Guichardon, P.

    2012-01-01

    In order to design and define appropriate dimensions for a supercritical oxidation reactor, a comparative 2D and 3D simulation of the fluid dynamics and heat transfer during an oxidation process has been performed. The solver used is a commercial code, Fluent 6.2 (R). The turbulent flow field in the reactor, created by the stirrer, is taken into account with a k-omega model and a swirl imposed to the fluid. In the 3D case the rotation of the stirrer can be modelled using the sliding mesh model and the moving reference frame model. This work allows comparing 2D and 3D velocity and heat transfer calculations. The predicted values (mainly species concentrations and temperature profiles) are of the same order in both cases. The reactivity of the system is taken into account with a classical Eddy Dissipation Concept combustion model. Comparisons with experimental temperature measurements validate the ability of the CFD modelling to simulate the supercritical water oxidation reactive medium. Results indicate that the flow can be considered as plug flow-like and that heat transfer is strongly enhanced by the stirring. (authors)

  1. Prediction and analysis of onset of turbulent convective heat transfer deterioration in supercritical water flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anglart, H.; Gallaway, T.; Antal, St.P.; Podowski, M.Z.

    2007-01-01

    Supercritical water is considered as a coolant in one of the six systems defined as Generation IV reactors. Such reactor will operate at pressures higher than the thermodynamic critical point of water (374 C degrees and 22.1 MPa), allowing for a significant increase of the system thermal efficiency. During normal operation no boiling crisis will occur, thereby sudden temperature excursions will be avoided. However, since the physical properties of supercritical fluids change rapidly with temperature in the pseudo critical region, the local heat transfer coefficient may still show unusual behaviour depending upon the heat flux. It can be either enhanced or deteriorated, depending on flow conditions and heat flux. It has been shown that the complexity of the phenomena involved makes it very difficult to develop acceptable predictive capabilities solely based on phenomenological models and correlations. It has also been shown that a multidimensional approach based on CFD (computational fluid dynamics) concepts is capable of properly capturing local effects that may lead to either heat transfer deterioration or enhancement

  2. Leak detection on the DIII-D tokamak using helium entrainment techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brooks, N.H.; Baxi, C.; Anderson, P.

    1988-01-01

    The entrainment of helium in a viscous gas flow was utilized to compartmentalize, and then to pinpoint, a leak across the inner skin of the double-walled DIII-D vacuum vessel. Inaccessible from the outside, the leak connected the cooling channels in the wall interspace with the primary vacuum chamber. By entraining helium in the pressurized flow from the single-pass gas circulation system, well-defined portions of the wall were exposed to helium without disassembly of the poorly accessible cooling manifolds. Varying the helium injection point permitted the localization of the leak to a single 30 0 toroidal sector of the vessel. The exact location of the leak was found from inside the vessel by spraying helium on suspect regions, while sweeping the contents of the cooling channels to the foreline of a Varian Contraflow leak detector with a 0.1 Pa m 3 /s flow of nitrogen. Flow speed calculations were used to predict the response time to entrained helium of the actual leak detection setup

  3. Wide-range vortex shedding flowmeter for high-temperature helium gas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baker, S.P.; Herndon, P.G.; Ennis, R.M. Jr.

    1983-01-01

    The existing design of a commercially available vortex shedding flowmeter (VSFM) was modified and optimized to produce three 4-in. and one 6-in. high-performance VSFMs for measuring helium flow in a gas-cooled fast reactor (GCFR) test loop. The project was undertaken because of the significant economic and performance advantages to be realized by using a single flowmeter capable of covering the 166:1 flow range (at 350/sup 0/C and 45:1 pressure range) of the tests. A detailed calibration in air and helium at the Colorado Engineering Experiment Station showed an accuracy of +-1% of reading for a 100:1 helium flow range and +-1.75% of reading for a 288:1 flow range in both helium and air. At an extended gas temperature of 450/sup 0/C, water cooling was necessary for reliable flowmeter operation.

  4. Numerical simulation of losses along a natural circulation helium loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Knížat, Branislav, E-mail: branislav.knizat@stuba.sk; Urban, František, E-mail: frantisek.urban@stuba.sk; Mlkvik, Marek, E-mail: marek.mlkvik@stuba.sk; Ridzoň, František, E-mail: frantisek.ridzon@stuba.sk; Olšiak, Róbert, E-mail: robert.olsiak@stuba.sk [Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Nám. slobody 17, 812 31 Bratislava, Slovak Republik (Slovakia)

    2016-06-30

    A natural circulation helium loop appears to be a perspective passive method of a nuclear reactor cooling. When designing this device, it is important to analyze the mechanism of an internal flow. The flow of helium in the loop is set in motion due to a difference of hydrostatic pressures between cold and hot branch. Steady flow at a requested flow rate occurs when the buoyancy force is adjusted to resistances against the flow. Considering the fact that the buoyancy force is proportional to a difference of temperatures in both branches, it is important to estimate the losses correctly in the process of design. The paper deals with the calculation of losses in branches of the natural circulation helium loop by methods of CFD. The results of calculations are an important basis for the hydraulic design of both exchangers (heater and cooler). The analysis was carried out for the existing model of a helium loop of the height 10 m and nominal heat power 250 kW.

  5. Experimental investigations of flow distribution in coolant system of Helium-Cooled-Pebble-Bed Test Blanket Module

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ilić, M.; Schlindwein, G., E-mail: georg.schlindwein@kit.edu; Meyder, R.; Kuhn, T.; Albrecht, O.; Zinn, K.

    2016-02-15

    Highlights: • Experimental investigations of flow distribution in HCPB TBM are presented. • Flow rates in channels close to the first wall are lower than nominal ones. • Flow distribution in central chambers of manifold 2 is close to the nominal one. • Flow distribution in the whole manifold 3 agrees well with the nominal one. - Abstract: This paper deals with investigations of flow distribution in the coolant system of the Helium-Cooled-Pebble-Bed Test Blanket Module (HCPB TBM) for ITER. The investigations have been performed by manufacturing and testing of an experimental facility named GRICAMAN. The facility involves the upper poloidal half of HCPB TBM bounded at outlets of the first wall channels, at outlet of by-pass pipe and at outlets of cooling channels in breeding units. In this way, the focus is placed on the flow distribution in two mid manifolds of the 4-manifold system: (i) manifold 2 to which outlets of the first wall channels and inlet of by-pass pipe are attached and (ii) manifold 3 which supplies channels in breeding units with helium coolant. These two manifolds are connected with cooling channels in vertical/horizontal grids and caps. The experimental facility has been built keeping the internal structure of manifold 2 and manifold 3 exactly as designed in HCPB TBM. The cooling channels in stiffening grids, caps and breeding units are substituted by so-called equivalent channels which provide the same hydraulic resistance and inlet/outlet conditions, but have significantly simpler geometry than the real channels. Using the conditions of flow similarity, the air pressurized at 0.3 MPa and at ambient temperature has been used as working fluid instead of HCPB TBM helium coolant at 8 MPa and an average temperature of 370 °C. The flow distribution has been determined by flow rate measurements at each of 28 equivalent channels, while the pressure distribution has been obtained measuring differential pressure at more than 250 positions. The

  6. Helium storage and control system for the PBMR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verkerk, E.C.

    1997-01-01

    The power conversion unit will convert the heat energy in the reactor core to electrical power. The direct-closed cycle recuperated Brayton Cycle employed for this concept consists of a primary helium cycle with helium powered turbo compressors and a power turbine. The helium is actively cooled with water before the compression stages. A recuperator is used to preheat the helium before entering the core. The start of the direct cycle is initiated by a mass flow from the helium inventory and control system via a jet pump. When the PBMR is connected to the grid, changes in power demand can be followed by changing the helium flow and pressure inside the primary loop. Small rapid adjustments can be performed without changing the helium inventory of the primary loop. The stator blade settings on the turbines and compressors are adjustable and it is possible to bypass reactor and turbine. This temporarily reduces the efficiency at which the power conversion unit is operating. Larger or long term adjustments require storage or addition of helium in order to maintain a sufficient level of efficiency in the power conversion unit. The helium will be temporarily stored in high pressure tanks. After a rise in power demand it will be injected back into the system. Some possibilities how to store the helium are presented in this paper. The change of helium inventory will cause transients in the primary helium loop in order to acquire the desired power level. At this stage, it seems that the change of helium inventory does not strongly effect the stability of the power conversion unit. (author)

  7. Enhanced arrangement for recuperators in supercritical CO2 Brayton power cycle for energy conversion in fusion reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serrano, I.P.; Linares, J.I.; Cantizano, A.; Moratilla, B.Y.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: •We propose an enhanced power conversion system layout for a Model C fusion reactor. •Proposed layout is based on a modified recompression supercritical CO 2 Brayton cycle. •New arrangement in recuperators regards to classical cycle is used. •High efficiency is achieved, comparable with the best obtained in complex solutions. -- Abstract: A domestic research program called TECNO F US was launched in Spain in 2009 to support technological developments related to a dual coolant breeding blanket concept for fusion reactors. This concept of blanket uses Helium (300 °C/400 °C) to cool part of it and a liquid metal (480 °C/700 °C) to cool the rest; it also includes high temperature (700 °C/800 °C) and medium temperature (566 °C/700 °C) Helium cooling circuits for divertor. This paper proposes a new layout of the classical recompression supercritical CO 2 Brayton cycle which replaces one of the recuperators (the one with the highest temperature) by another which by-passes the low temperature blanket source. This arrangement allows reaching high turbine inlet temperatures (around 600 °C) with medium pressures (around 225 bar) and achieving high cycle efficiencies (close to 46.5%). So, the proposed cycle reveals as a promising design because it integrates all the available thermal sources in a compact layout achieving high efficiencies with the usual parameters prescribed in classical recompression supercritical CO 2 Brayton cycles

  8. A numerical study of a supercritical fluid jet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sierra-Pallares, J.; Garcia-Serna, J.; Cocero, M.J.; Parra-Santos, M.T.; Castro-Ruiz, F.

    2009-01-01

    This study affords the numerical solution of the mixing of a submerged turbulent jet under supercritical conditions and near-critical conditions. Turbulence plays a very important role in the behaviour of chemical engineering equipment. An accurate prediction of the turbulence at supercritical conditions with low computational cost is crucial in designing new processes such as reactions in supercritical media, high pressure separation processes, nanomaterials processing and heterogeneous catalysis. At high-pressure, the flow cannot be modelled accurately using the ideal-gas assumption. Therefore, the real gas models must be used in order to solve accurately the fluid flow and heat transfer problems where the working fluid behaviour deviate seriously from the ideal-gas assumption. The jet structure has three parts clearly distinguished: the injection, the transition and the fully developed jet. Once the flow is dominated by the turbulent eddies of the shear layer, the flow is fully developed and the radial profiles match a similarity profile. This work reports the state of the project that is not completed and is being processed now. This work is devoted to establish the distance downstream from the injector where the jet become self-preserving and the shape of the similarity profiles. This system is of interest in the design of supercritical reactor inlets, where two streams should be mixed in the shortest length, or mixing conditions strongly affect the behaviour of the processes. The numerical results have been validated with experimental measurements made in the jet mixing region. The radial profiles for average velocity, density and temperature are analyzed. The parameters of the profile that match better the numerical results are summarized in Table 1. The density requires a lower value of n than these for velocity and temperature, which reflect smoother profiles. These conclusions are in good agreement with the results from Oschwald and Schik. (author)

  9. Simplicity works for superfluid helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bowley, Roger

    2000-01-01

    The famous philosopher Karl Popper once said that ''science is the art of systematic oversimplification''. Indeed, when faced with a new puzzle the trick is to simplify it without losing the essential physics - something that is easier said than done. However, this approach has paid off recently in low-temperature physics. Last year Richard Packard, Seamus Davis and co-workers at the University of California at Berkeley encountered a puzzling new phenomenon in superfluid helium-3, a quantum fluid that remains a liquid close to absolute zero and exhibits unusual properties such as the ability to flow without friction (A Machenkov et al. 1999 Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 3860). Previous experiments had revealed that certain effects in liquid helium are analogous to effects observed in superconductors, materials that lose all resistance to electric current at low temperatures. When the Berkeley researchers connected two reservoirs of superfluid helium-3, the superfluid flowed back and forth through apertures that formed a ''weak link'' between the two containers. This behaviour is similar to the oscillatory current of electrons that can flow across an insulating gap separating two superconductors - a device that is known as a Josephson junction. What was puzzling about the Berkeley results was that the helium-3 had two different stable configurations, both of which behaved in an unconventional way compared with a Josephson junction. This puzzle has now been solved independently by Sidney Yip at the National Center for Theoretical Sciences in Taiwan, and by Janne Viljas and Erkki Thuneberg at the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland (Phys. Rev. Lett. 1999 83 3864 and 3868). In this article the author describes the latest research on superfluid helium. (UK)

  10. Numerical simulation of bellows effect on flow and separation of uranium isotopes in a supercritical gas centrifuge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borisevich, V.D.; Morozov, O.E.; Godisov, O.N.

    2000-01-01

    Numerical solving of the Navier-Stokes and convection-diffusion equations by the finite difference technique has been applied to study the influence of bellows on the flow and separation of uranium isotopes in a single supercritical gas centrifuge. Dependence of the separative power of a gas centrifuge on geometric parameters and position of a bellows on a rotor wall as well as the effect of scoop drag and feed flow on isotope separation in a gas centrifuge with a bellows have been obtained in computing experiments. It was demonstrated that increase of the separative power with increase of the gas centrifuge length is less considerable than predicted by the Dirac's law

  11. Conceptual design of helium experimental loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Xingfu; Feng Kaiming

    2007-01-01

    In a future demonstration fusion power station (DEMO), helium is envisaged as coolant for plasma facing components, such as blanket and dive,or. All these components have a very complex geometry, with many parallel cooling channels, involving a complex helium flow distribution. Test blanket modules (TBM) of this concept will under go various tests in the experimental reactor ITER. For the qualification of TBM, it is indispensable to test mock-ups in a helium loop under realistic pressure and temperature profiles, in order to validate design codes, especially regarding mass flow and heat transition processes in narrow cooling channels. Similar testing must be performed for DEMO blanket, currently under development. A Helium Experimental Loop (HELOOP) is planed to be built for TBM tests. The design parameter of temperature, pressure, flow rate is 550 degree C, 10 MPa, l kg/s respectively. In particular, HELOOP is able to: perform full-scale tests of TBM under realistic conditions; test other components of the He-cooling system in ITER; qualify the purification circuit; obtain information for the design of the ITER cooling system. The main requirements and characteristics of the HELOOP facility and a preliminary conceptual design are described in the paper. (authors)

  12. Design and fabrication of forced-flow superconducting poloidal coils for the Large Helical Device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamoto, K.; Yamamoto, T.; Mizumaki, S.; Yamakoshi, T.; Kanai, Y.; Yamamoto, K.; Wachi, Y.; Ushijima, M.; Yoshida, T.; Kai, T.; Takahata, K.; Yamamoto, J.; Satow, T.; Motojima, O.

    1995-01-01

    Three pairs of superconducting poloidal coils for the LHD (Large Helical Device) have been designed and fabricated using NbTi/Cu cable-in-conduit (CIC) conductors cooled with forced-flow supercritical helium (SHE). In the LHD poloidal coils, high field accuracy as well as high reliability are required. To meet these requirements, detailed field and structural analyses have been performed and key parameters including winding pattern and size and locations of conductor joints have been determined. Compact conductor joint, where NbTi filaments are directly bonded, has also been developed using the solid state bonding technique. (orig.)

  13. Upgrading of bitumen using supercritical water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kayukawa, T. [JGC Corp., Ibaraki (Japan)

    2009-07-01

    This presentation outlined the technical and economic aspects of thermal cracking by supercritical water. Supercritical water (SCW) is a commonly used method for upgrading heavy oil to produce pipeline-transportable oil from high-viscous bitumen. The process uses water and does not require hydrogen nor catalysts. Pre-heated bitumen and water enter a vertical reactor with flows of counter current at the supercritical point of water. The upgraded synthetic crude oil (SCO) and pitch are obtained from the top of the reactor when the bitumen is thermally cracked. Bench-scale studies have shown that Canadian oil sands bitumen can be converted to 80 volume per cent of SCO and 20 volume per cent of pitch. The SCO has satisfied Canadian pipeline specifications in terms of API gravity and kinetic viscosity. The kinetic viscosity of the pitch has also satisfied boiler fuel specifications. tabs., figs.

  14. Steady state and linear stability analysis of a supercritical water natural circulation loop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Manish; Pilkhwal, D.S.; Vijayan, P.K.; Saha, D.; Sinha, R.K.

    2010-01-01

    Supercritical water (SCW) has excellent heat transfer characteristics as a coolant for nuclear reactors. Besides it results in high thermal efficiency of the plant. However, the flow can experience instabilities in supercritical water reactors, as the density change is very large for the supercritical fluids. A computer code SUCLIN using supercritical water properties has been developed to carry out the steady state and linear stability analysis of a SCW natural circulation loop. The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy have been linearized by imposing small perturbation in flow rate, enthalpy, pressure and specific volume. The equations have been solved analytically to generate the characteristic equation. The roots of the equation determine the stability of the system. The code has been qualitatively assessed with published results and has been extensively used for studying the effect of diameter, height, heater inlet temperature, pressure and local loss coefficients on steady state and stability behavior of a Supercritical Water Natural Circulation Loop (SCWNCL). The present paper describes the linear stability analysis model and the results obtained in detail.

  15. FY-05 Second Quarter Report On Development of a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle: Improving PBR Efficiency and Testing Material Compatibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang Oh

    2005-01-01

    The objective of this research is to improve a helium Brayton cycle and to develop a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle for the Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR) that can also be applied to the Fast Gas-Cooled Reactor (FGR) and the Very-High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR). The proposed supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle will be used to improve the PBR, FGR, and VHTR net plant efficiency. Another objective of this research is to test materials to be used in the power conversion side at supercritical carbon dioxide conditions. Generally, the optimized Brayton cycle and balance of plant (BOP) to be developed from this study can be applied to Generation-IV reactor concepts. Particularly, we are interested in VHTR because it has a good chance of being built in the near future

  16. Numerical simulations of helium flow through prismatic fuel elements of very high temperature reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ribeiro, Felipe Lopes; Pinto, Joao Pedro C.T.A.

    2013-01-01

    The 4 th generation Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) most popular concept uses a graphite-moderated and helium cooled core with an outlet gas temperature of approximately 1000 deg C. The high output temperature allows the use of the process heat and the production of hydrogen through the thermochemical iodine-sulfur process as well as highly efficient electricity generation. There are two concepts of VHTR core: the prismatic block and the pebble bed core. The prismatic block core has two popular concepts for the fuel element: multihole and annular. In the multi-hole fuel element, prismatic graphite blocks contain cylindrical flow channels where the helium coolant flows removing heat from cylindrical fuel rods positioned in the graphite. In the other hand, the annular type fuel element has annular channels around the fuel. This paper shows the numerical evaluations of prismatic multi-hole and annular VHTR fuel elements and does a comparison between the results of these assembly reactors. In this study the analysis were performed using the CFD code ANSYS CFX 14.0. The simulations were made in 1/12 fuel element models. A numerical validation was performed through the energy balance, where the theoretical and the numerical generated heat were compared for each model. (author)

  17. Fracture detection and groundwater flow characterization in poorly exposed ground using helium and radon in soil gases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gascoyne, M.; Wuschke, D.M.

    1991-05-01

    Radon and helium in soil gases have been used to identify locations of groundwater discharge and the presence of fractures outcropping beneath overburden in two areas near the Underground Research Laboratory (URL), Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, Canada. In particular, groundwater discharge from a known, inclined fracture zone at the URL was clearly identified by a helium excess in overlying soil gases. A model was developed to describe gas phase flow in bedrock and overburden at this location, from gas injection in an adjacent borehole. Predictions were made of gas transport pathway and breakthrough time at the surface, in preparation for a gas injection test

  18. Enhanced arrangement for recuperators in supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton power cycle for energy conversion in fusion reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Serrano, I.P.; Linares, J.I., E-mail: linares@dim.icai.upcomillas.es; Cantizano, A.; Moratilla, B.Y.

    2014-10-15

    Highlights: •We propose an enhanced power conversion system layout for a Model C fusion reactor. •Proposed layout is based on a modified recompression supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle. •New arrangement in recuperators regards to classical cycle is used. •High efficiency is achieved, comparable with the best obtained in complex solutions. -- Abstract: A domestic research program called TECNO{sub F}US was launched in Spain in 2009 to support technological developments related to a dual coolant breeding blanket concept for fusion reactors. This concept of blanket uses Helium (300 °C/400 °C) to cool part of it and a liquid metal (480 °C/700 °C) to cool the rest; it also includes high temperature (700 °C/800 °C) and medium temperature (566 °C/700 °C) Helium cooling circuits for divertor. This paper proposes a new layout of the classical recompression supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle which replaces one of the recuperators (the one with the highest temperature) by another which by-passes the low temperature blanket source. This arrangement allows reaching high turbine inlet temperatures (around 600 °C) with medium pressures (around 225 bar) and achieving high cycle efficiencies (close to 46.5%). So, the proposed cycle reveals as a promising design because it integrates all the available thermal sources in a compact layout achieving high efficiencies with the usual parameters prescribed in classical recompression supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycles.

  19. Simplicity works for superfluid helium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bowley, Roger [University of Nottingham, Nottingham (United Kingdom)

    2000-02-01

    The famous philosopher Karl Popper once said that ''science is the art of systematic oversimplification''. Indeed, when faced with a new puzzle the trick is to simplify it without losing the essential physics - something that is easier said than done. However, this approach has paid off recently in low-temperature physics. Last year Richard Packard, Seamus Davis and co-workers at the University of California at Berkeley encountered a puzzling new phenomenon in superfluid helium-3, a quantum fluid that remains a liquid close to absolute zero and exhibits unusual properties such as the ability to flow without friction (A Machenkov et al. 1999 Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 3860). Previous experiments had revealed that certain effects in liquid helium are analogous to effects observed in superconductors, materials that lose all resistance to electric current at low temperatures. When the Berkeley researchers connected two reservoirs of superfluid helium-3, the superfluid flowed back and forth through apertures that formed a ''weak link'' between the two containers. This behaviour is similar to the oscillatory current of electrons that can flow across an insulating gap separating two superconductors - a device that is known as a Josephson junction. What was puzzling about the Berkeley results was that the helium-3 had two different stable configurations, both of which behaved in an unconventional way compared with a Josephson junction. This puzzle has now been solved independently by Sidney Yip at the National Center for Theoretical Sciences in Taiwan, and by Janne Viljas and Erkki Thuneberg at the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland (Phys. Rev. Lett. 1999 83 3864 and 3868). In this article the author describes the latest research on superfluid helium. (UK)

  20. Computational Modeling of Supercritical and Transcritical Flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-09

    Acentric factor I. Introduction Liquid rocket and gas turbine engines operate at high pressures . For gas turbines, the combustor pressurecan be 60 − 100...equation of state for several reduced pressures . The model captures the high density at very low temperatures and the supercritical behavior at high reduced...physical meaning. The temperature range over which the three roots are present is bounded by TL on the low side and TH on the high side. Figure 2: Roots

  1. Liquid helium cooling of the MFTF superconducting magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    VanSant, J.H.; Zbasnik, J.P.

    1986-09-01

    During acceptance testing of the Mirror Fusion Test Facility (MFTF), we measured these tests: liquid helium heat loads and flow rates in selected magnets. We used the data from these tests to estimate helium vapor quality in the magnets so that we could determine if adequate conductor cooling conditions had occurred. We compared the measured quality and flow with estimates from a theoretical model developed for the MFTF magnets. The comparison is reasonably good, considering influences that can greatly affect these values. This paper describes the methods employed in making the measurements and developing the theoretical estimates. It also describes the helium system that maintained the magnets at required operating conditions

  2. Experimental analysis on a novel solar collector system achieved by supercritical CO2 natural convection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Lin; Zhang, Xin-Rong

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Supercritical CO 2 flow is proposed for natural circulation solar water heater system. • Experimental system established and consists of supercritical fluid high pressure side and water side. • Stable supercritical CO 2 natural convective flow is well induced and water heating process achieved. • Seasonal solar collector system efficiency above 60% achieved and optimization discussed. - Abstract: Solar collector has become a hot topic both in scientific research and engineering applications. Among the various applications, the hot water supply demand accounts for a large part of social energy consumption and has become one promising field. The present study deals with a novel solar thermal conversion and water heater system achieved by supercritical CO 2 natural circulation. Experimental systems are established and tested in Zhejiang Province (around N 30.0°, E 120.6°) of southeast China. The current system is designed to operate in the supercritical region, thus the system can be compactly made and achieve smooth high rate natural convective flow. During the tests, supercritical CO 2 pipe flow with Reynolds number higher than 6700 is found. The CO 2 fluid temperature in the heat exchanger can be as high as 80 °C and a stable supply of hot water above 45 °C is achieved. In the seasonal tests, relative high collector efficiency generally above 60.0% is obtained. Thermal and performance analysis is carried out with the experiment data. Comparisons between the present system and previous solar water heaters are also made in this paper

  3. Visualization study for forced convection heat transfer of supercritical carbon dioxide near pseudo-boiling point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakurai, K.; Ko, H.S.; Okamoto, K.; Madarame, H.

    2001-01-01

    For development of new reactor, supercritical water is expected to be used as coolant to improve thermal efficiency. However, the thermal characteristics of supercritical fluid is not revealed completely because its difficulty for experiment. Specific phenomena tend to occur near the pseudo-boiling point which is characterised by temperature corresponding to the saturation point in ordinary fluid. Around this point, the physic properties such as density, specific heat and thermal conductivity are drastically varying. Although there is no difference between gas and liquid phases in supercritical fluids, phenomena similar to boiling (with heat transfer deterioration) can be observed round the pseudo-boiling point. Experiments of heat transfer have been done for supercritical fluid in forced convective condition. However, these experiments were mainly realised inside stainless steel cylinder pipes, for which flow visualisation is difficult. Consequently, this work has been devoted to the development of method allowing the visualisation of supercritical flows. The experiment setup is composed of main loop and test section for the visualisation. Carbon dioxide is used as test fluid. Supercritical carbon dioxide flows upward in rectangular channel and heated by one-side wall to generate forced convection heat transfer. Through window at mid-height of the test section, shadowgraphy was applied to visualize density gradient distribution. The behavior of the density wave in the channel is visualized and examined through the variation of the heat transfer coefficient. (author)

  4. Preliminary Overview of a Helium Cooling System for the Secondary Helium Loop in VHTR-based SI Hydrogen Production Facilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shin, Youngjoon; Cho, Mintaek; Kim, Dahee; Lee, Taehoon; Lee, Kiyoung; Kim, Yongwan [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    Nuclear hydrogen production facilities consist of a very high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (VHTR) system, intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) system, and a sulfur-iodine (SI) thermochemical process. This study focuses on the coupling system between the IHX system and SI thermochemical process. To prevent the propagation of the thermal disturbance owing to the abnormal operation of the SI process components from the IHX system to the VHTR system, a helium cooling system for the secondary helium of the IHX is required. In this paper, the helium cooling system has been studied. The temperature fluctuation of the secondary helium owing to the abnormal operation of the SI process was then calculated based on the proposed coupling system model. Finally, the preliminary conceptual design of the helium cooling system with a steam generator and forced-draft air-cooled heat exchanger to mitigate the thermal disturbance has been carried out. A conceptual flow diagram of a helium cooling system between the IHX and SI thermochemical processes in VHTR-based SI hydrogen production facilities has been proposed. A helium cooling system for the secondary helium of the IHX in this flow diagram prevents the propagation of the thermal disturbance from the IHX system to the VHTR system, owing to the abnormal operation of the SI process components. As a result of a dynamic simulation to anticipate the fluctuations of the secondary helium temperature owing to the abnormal operation of the SI process components with a hydrogen production rate of 60 mol·H{sub 2}/s, it is recommended that the maximum helium cooling capacity to recover the normal operation temperature of 450 .deg. C is 31,933.4 kJ/s. To satisfy this helium cooling capacity, a U-type steam generator, which has a heat transfer area of 12 m{sup 2}, and a forced-draft air-cooled condenser, which has a heat transfer area of 12,388.67 m{sup 2}, are required for the secondary helium cooling system.

  5. A 3-D model of superfluid helium suitable for numerical analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Darve, C; Van Sciver, S W

    2009-01-01

    The two-fluid description is a very successful phenomenological representation of the properties of Helium II. A 3-D model suitable for numerical analysis based on the Landau-Khalatnikov description of Helium II is proposed. In this paper we introduce a system of partial differential equations that is both complete and consistent as well as practical, to be used for a 3-D solution of the flow of Helium II. The development of a 3-D numerical model for Helium II is motivated by the need to validate experimental results obtained by observing the normal component velocity distribution in a Helium II thermal counter-flow using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique.

  6. Heat transfer to sub- and supercritical water flowing upward in a vertical tube at low mass fluxes: numerical analysis and experimental validation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Odu, Samuel Obarinu; Koster, P.; van der Ham, Aloysius G.J.; van der Hoef, Martin Anton; Kersten, Sascha R.A.

    2016-01-01

    Heat transfer to supercritical water (SCW) flowing upward in a vertical heated tube at low mass fluxes (G ≤ 20 kg/m2 s) has been numerically investigated in COMSOL Multiphysics and validated with experimental data. The turbulence models, essential to describing local turbulence, in COMSOL have been

  7. 3D numerical simulation of fluid–solid coupled heat transfer with variable property in a LBE-helium heat exchanger

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Fei, E-mail: chenfei@iet.cn [Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 Beisihuanxi Road, Beijing 100190 (China); North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, 36 Beihuan Road, Zhengzhou, Henan 450011 (China); Cai, Jun, E-mail: caijun@iet.cn [Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 Beisihuanxi Road, Beijing 100190 (China); Li, Xunfeng, E-mail: lixunfeng@iet.cn [Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 Beisihuanxi Road, Beijing 100190 (China); Huai, Xiulan, E-mail: hxl@iet.cn [Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 Beisihuanxi Road, Beijing 100190 (China); Wang, Yongwei, E-mail: wangyongwei@iet.cn [Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 Beisihuanxi Road, Beijing 100190 (China)

    2014-07-01

    Highlights: • Heat transfer in heat exchanger can be improved by increasing helium's flow rate. • The outlet temperature of helium decreases with increasing helium's flow rate. • Balance is necessary between good heat transfer and high helium outlet temperature. - Abstract: LBE-helium experimental loop of ADS (LELA) and LBE-helium heat exchanger have been designed and constructed with the supporting of the “ADS Transmutation System” project of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In order to investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics between LBE and helium, 3D numerical simulation of fluid–solid coupled heat transfer with variable property in the LBE-helium heat exchanger is conducted in the present study. The effects of mass-flow-rates of helium and LBE in the shell-side and tube-side on the heat transfer performance are addressed. It is found that the heat transfer performance can be significantly improved by increasing helium mass-flow-rate in the shell-side. In order to easily and quickly obtain the outlet temperatures of helium and LBE, a concept of modified effectiveness is introduced and correlated as the function of tube-side to shell-side heat capacity rate ratio. The results show that the outlet temperature of helium decreases with increasing helium mass-flow-rate. Therefore, considering the utilization of high-temperature helium in the future, for example power generation, there should be a tradeoff between good heat transfer performance and high outlet helium temperature when confirming helium mass-flow-rate.

  8. Low-temperature centrifugal helium compressor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawada, M.; Togo, S.; Akiyama, Y.; Wada, R.

    1974-01-01

    A centrifugal helium compressor with gas bearings, which can be operated at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, has been investigated. This compressor has the advantages that the compression ratio should be higher than the room temperature operation and that the contamination of helium could be eliminated. The outer diameter of the rotor is 112 mm. The experimental result for helium gas at low temperature shows a flow rate of 47 g/s and a compression ratio of 1.2 when the inlet pressure was 1 ata and the rotational speed 550 rev/s. The investigation is now focused on obtaining a compression ratio of 1.5. (author)

  9. An investigation of supercritical-CO2 copper electroplating parameters for application in TSV chips

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chuang, Ho-Chiao; Lai, Wei-Hong; Sanchez, Jorge

    2015-01-01

    This study uses supercritical electroplating for the filling of through silicon vias (TSVs) in chips. The present study utilizes the inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP RIE) process technique to etch the TSVs and discusses different supercritical-CO 2 electroplating parameters, such as the supercritical pressure, the electroplating current density’s effect on the TSV Cu pillar filling time, the I–V curve, the electrical resistance and the hermeticity. In addition, the results for all the tests mentioned above have been compared to results from traditional electroplating techniques. For the testing, we will first discuss the hermeticity of the TSV Cu pillars, using a helium leaking test apparatus to assess the vacuum sealing of the fabricated TSV Cu pillars. In addition, this study also conducts tests for the electrical properties, which include the measurement of the electrical resistance of the TSV at both ends in the horizontal direction, followed by the passing of a high current (10 A, due to probe limitations) to check if the TSV can withstand it without burnout. Finally, the TSV is cut in half in cross-section to observe the filling of Cu pillars by the supercritical electroplating and check for voids. The important characteristic of this study is the use of the supercritical electroplating process without the addition of any surfactants to aid the filling of the TSVs, but by taking advantage of the high permeability and low surface tension of supercritical fluids to achieve our goal. The results of this investigation point to a supercritical pressure of 2000 psi and a current density of 3 A dm −2 giving off the best electroplating filling and hermeticity, while also being able to withstand a high current of 10 A, with a relatively short electroplating time of 3 h (when compared to our own traditional dc electroplating). (paper)

  10. Design concept of cryogenic falling liquid film helium separator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kinoshita, M.; Yamanishi, T.; Bartlit, J.R.; Sherman, R.H.

    1986-01-01

    A design concept is developed for a cryogenic falling liquid film helium separator by clarifying the differences between this process and a cryogenic distillation column. The process characteristics are greatly improved by the idea of adding an H 2 gas flow to a point near the upper end of the packed section. The flow rate of tritium lost from the top is kept extremely low with an adequately short packed section, and the column pressure is reduced to 1 atm. The addition causes no appreciable increase in the protium percentage (approx. =1%) in the bottom liquid flow. A design procedure applying the Colburn-Hougen method is proposed for determining specifications of the refrigerated section. It is shown that the presence of noncondensible helium requires a significantly larger heat transfer area mainly because the mass transfer resistance increases enormously as the condensation of hydrogen isotopes proceeds. Control schemes are also proposed: The tritium concentration in the top gas is controlled by the H 2 gas flow rate. The pressure rise caused by an increase of the helium percentage within the refrigerated section, which cannot readily be eliminated by changing input specifications of the refrigerant gas, is avoided by increasing the top gas flow rate to release more helium from the top

  11. RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0 modification for transient accident scenario of Test Blanket Modules in ITER involving helium flows into heavy liquid metal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Freixa, J.; Pérez, M.; Mas de les Valls, E.; Batet, L.; Sandeep, T.; Chaudhari, V.; Reventós, F.

    2015-07-01

    The Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), India, is currently involved in the design and development of its Test Blanket Module (TBM) for testing in ITER (International Thermo nuclear Experimental Reactor). The Indian TBM concept is a Lead-Lithium cooled Ceramic Breeder (LLCB), which utilizes lead-lithium eutectic alloy (LLE) as tritium breeder, neutron multiplier and coolant. The first wall facing the plasma is cooled by helium gas. In preparation of the regulatory safety files of ITER-TBM, a number of off-normal event sequences have been postulated. Thermal hydraulic safety analyses of the TBM system will be carried out with the system code RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0 which was initially designed to predict the behavior of light water reactor systems during normal and accidental conditions. In order to analyze some of the postulated off-normal events, there is the need to simulate the mixing of Helium and Lead-Lithium fluids. The Technical University of Catalonia is cooperating with IPR to implement the necessary changes in the code to allow for the mixing of helium and liquid metal. In the present study, the RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4 two-phase flow 6-equations structure has been modified to allow for the mixture of LLE in the liquid phase with dry Helium in the gas phase. Practically obtaining a two-fluid 6-equation model where each fluid is simulated with a set of energy, mass and momentum balance equations. A preliminary flow regime map for LLE and helium flow has been developed on the basis of numerical simulations with the OpenFOAM CFD toolkit. The new code modifications have been verified for vertical and horizontal configurations. (Author)

  12. Artificial dissipation models applied to Navier-Stokes equations for analysis of supersonic flow of helium gas around a geometric configuration ramp type

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rocha, Jussie Soares da; Maciel, Edisson Savio de G.; Lira, Carlos A.B. de O.

    2015-01-01

    Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors - VHTGRs are studied by several research groups for the development of advanced reactors that can meet the world's growing energy demand. The analysis of the flow of helium coolant around the various geometries at the core of these reactors through computational fluid dynamics techniques is an essential tool in the development of conceptual designs of nuclear power plants that provide added safety. This analysis suggests a close analogy with aeronautical cases widely studied using computational numerical techniques to solve systems of governing equations for the flow involved. The present work consists in solving the Navier-Stokes equations in a conservative form, in two-dimensional space employing a finite difference formulation for spatial discretization using the Euler method for explicit marching in time. The physical problem of supersonic laminar flow of helium gas along a ramp configuration is considered. For this, the Jameson and Mavriplis algorithm and the artificial dissipations models linear and nonlinear of Pulliam was implemented. A spatially variable time step is employed aiming to accelerate the convergence to the steady state solution. The main purpose of this work is to study the cited dissipation models and describe their characteristics in relation to the overall quality of the solution, aiming preliminary results for the development of computational tools of dynamic analysis of helium flow for the VHTGR core. (author)

  13. Compressive flow behavior of Cu thin films and Cu/Nb multilayers containing nanometer-scale helium bubbles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, N.; Mara, N.A.; Wang, Y.Q.; Nastasi, M.; Misra, A.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → Firstly micro-pillar compression technique has been used to measure the implanted metal films. → The magnitude of radiation hardening decreased with decreasing layer thickness. → When thickness decreases to 2.5 nm, no hardening and no loss in deformability after implantation. -- Focused-ion-beam machined compression specimens were used to investigate the effect of nanometer-scale helium bubbles on the strength and deformability of sputter-deposited Cu and Cu/Nb multilayers with different layer thickness. The flow strength of Cu films increased by more than a factor of 2 due to helium bubbles but in multilayers, the magnitude of radiation hardening decreased with decreasing layer thickness. When the layer thickness decreases to 2.5 nm, insignificant hardening and no measurable loss in deformability is observed after implantation.

  14. Supercritical heat transfer correlation for carbon dioxide flowing upward in a vertical tube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mokry, S. J.; Pioro, I. L.; Farah, A.; King, K.

    2010-01-01

    The objective of the current study was to analyze heat-transfer at supercritical conditions using carbon dioxide as a modeling fluid, and to develop a heat-transfer correlation based on data published in open literature. Supercritical (SC) fluids have unique properties. Beyond the critical point (22.1 MPa and 374.1 deg.C for water and 7.38 MPa and 31.0 deg.C for carbon dioxide), the fluid resembles a dense gas. The transition from single-phase liquid to single-phase gas does not involve a distinct phase change under these conditions. Phenomena such as dryout (or critical heat flux) are therefore not relevant. However, at supercritical conditions, deteriorated heat-transfer regime, (i.e., lower Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) values, compared to those for the normal or regular heat-transfer regime) may exist. Experiments with Supercritical Water (SCW) are very expensive due to high critical parameters. Therefore, a number of experiments are performed in modeling fluids such as carbon dioxide or/and refrigerants. However, there is no common opinion if SC modeling fluids' correlations can be applied to SCW and vice versa. Thus, the objective of this work was to generalize SC carbon dioxide data with a new correlation, and also, to compare these data with SCW correlations The experimental data was analyzed, and a new correlation was developed as part of a larger project assessing the feasibility of Generation IV SCW reactor concepts. Results are given for supercritical heat-transfer for several combinations of wall and bulk-fluid temperatures that were below, at or above the pseudo critical temperature. Uncertainties of all primary parameters were estimated. Two modes of heat transfer at supercritical pressures have been identified: (I) Normal Heat Transfer (NHT), and (2) Deteriorated Heat Transfer (DHT) characterized by lower-than-expected HTCs (i.e., higher-than-expected wall temperatures) than in the normal heat-transfer regime. These heat-transfer data are

  15. Supercritical-pressure, once-through cycle light water cooled reactor concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oka, Yoshiaki; Koshizuka, Seiichi

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of the study is to develop new reactor concepts for the innovation of light water reactors (LWR) and fast reactors. Concept of the once-through coolant cycle, supercritical-pressure light water cooled reactor was developed. Major aspects of reactor design and safety were analysed by the computer codes which were developed by ourselves. It includes core design of thermal and fast reactors, plant system, safety criteria, accident and transient analysis, LOCA, PSA, plant control, start up and stability. High enthalpy rise as supercritical boiler was achieved by evaluating the cladding temperature directly during transients. Fundamental safety principle of the reactor is monitoring coolant flow rate instead of water level of LWR. The reactor system is compact and simple because of high specific enthalpy of supercritical water and the once-through cycle. The major components are similar to those of LWR and supercritical thermal plant. Their temperature are within the experiences in spite of the high outlet coolant temperature. The reactor is compatible with tight fuel lattice fast reactor because of the high head pumps and low coolant flow rate. The power rating of the fast reactor is higher than the that of thermal reactor because of the high power density. (author)

  16. Solvation in supercritical water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cochran, H.D.; Cummings, P.T.; Karaborni, S.

    1991-01-01

    The aim of this work is to determine the solvation structure in supercritical water composed with that in ambient water and in simple supercritical solvents. Molecular dynamics studies have been undertaken of systems that model ionic sodium and chloride, atomic argon, and molecular methanol in supercritical aqueous solutions using the simple point charge model of Berendsen for water. Because of the strong interactions between water and ions, ionic solutes are strongly attractive in supercritical water, forming large clusters of water molecules around each ion. Methanol is found to be a weakly-attractive solute in supercritical water. The cluster of excess water molecules surrounding a dissolved ion or polar molecule in supercritical aqueous solutions is comparable to the solvent clusters surrounding attractive solutes in simple supercritical fluids. Likewise, the deficit of water molecules surrounding a dissolved argon atom in supercritical aqueous solutions is comparable to that surrounding repulsive solutes in simple supercritical fluids. The number of hydrogen bonds per water molecule in supercritical water was found to be about one third the number in ambient water. The number of hydrogen bonds per water molecule surrounding a central particle in supercritical water was only mildly affected by the identify of the central particle--atom, molecule, or ion. These results should be helpful in developing a qualitative understanding of important processes that occur in supercritical water. 29 refs., 6 figs

  17. Design and study of Engineering Test Facility - Helium Circulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang Huijing; Ye Ping; Zhao Gang; Geng Yinan; Wang Jie

    2015-01-01

    Helium circulator is one of the key equipment of High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor Pebble-bed Module (HTR-PM). In order to simulate most normal and accident operating conditions of helium circulator in HTR-PM, a full scale, rated flow rate and power, engineering test loop, which was called Engineering Test Facility - Helium Circulator (ETF-HC), was designed and established. Two prototypes of helium circulator, which was supported by Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) or sealed by dry gas seals, would be tested on ETF-HC. Therefore, special interchangeable design was under consideration. ETF-HC was constructed compactly, which consisted of eleven sub-systems. In order to reduce the flow resistance of the circuit, special ducts, elbows, valves and flowmeters were selected. Two stages of heat exchange loops were designed and a helium - high pressure pure water heat exchanger was applied to ensure water wouldn't be vaporized while simulating accident conditions. Commissioning tests were carried out and operation results showed that ETF-HC meets the requirement of helium circulator operation. On this test facility, different kinds of experiments were supposed to be held, including mechanical and aerodynamic performance tests, durability tests and so on. These tests would provide the features and performance of helium circulator and verify its feasibility, availability and reliability. (author)

  18. Method and apparatus for replenishing the helium bath in the rotor of a superconducting generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hofmann, A.; Schnapper, C.

    1980-01-01

    In order to replenish a helium bath in the super-conducting rotor of an electrical machine, in which bath liquid helium boils at subatmospheric pressure, with liquid helium from a helium reservoir, the liquid helium in the reservoir being at ambient pressure and a part of the liquid helium changing to the vapor phase during flow from the reservoir to the bath, liquid helium is introduced into the bath at a distance from the rotor axis of rotation, the liquid and vapor phases of the helium flowing from the reservoir to the bath are separated from one another in a phase separator fixed to the rotor, and the separated vapor phase is extracted from the separator. (MM) [de

  19. [Fluid dynamics of supercritical helium within internally cooled cabled superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Sciver, S.W.

    1995-01-01

    The Applied Superconductivity Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison proposes to conduct research on low temperature helium fluid dynamics as it applies to the cooling of internally cooled cabled superconductors (ICCS). Such conductors are used in fusion reactor designs including most of the coils in ITER. The proposed work is primarily experimental involving measurements of transient and steady state pressure drop in a variety of conductor configurations. Both model and prototype conductors for actual magnet designs will be investigated. The primary goal will be to measure and model the friction factor for these complex geometries. In addition, an effort will be made to study transient processes such as heat transfer and fluid expulsion associated with quench conditions

  20. NERI Quarterly Progress Report -- April 1 - June 30, 2005 -- Development of a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle: Improving PBR Efficiency and Testing Material Compatibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang Oh

    2005-01-01

    The objective of this research is to improve a helium Brayton cycle and to develop a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle for the Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR) that can also be applied to the Fast Gas-Cooled Reactor (FGR) and the Very-High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR). The proposed supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle will be used to improve the PBR, FGR, and VHTR net plant efficiency. Another objective of this research is to test materials to be used in the power conversion side at supercritical carbon dioxide conditions. Generally, the optimized Brayton cycle and balance of plant (BOP) to be developed from this study can be applied to Generation-IV reactor concepts. Particularly, we are interested in VHTR because it has a good chance of being built in the near future

  1. The effect of low-concentration inorganic materials on the behaviour of supercritical water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Imre, A.R., E-mail: imre@aeki.kfki.h [KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute, POB 49, Budapest (Hungary); Hazi, G.; Horvath, A.; Maraczy, Cs. [KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute, POB 49, Budapest (Hungary); Mazur, V.; Artemenko, S. [Odessa State Academy of Refrigeration, 1/3 Dvoryanslaya Str., 65026, Odessa (Ukraine)

    2011-01-15

    Research highlights: Small amount of inorganic materials (like corrosion products) can be dissolved in the supercritical water. Pseudo-critical temperature and other properties will be changed. Thermal and hydraulic behaviours of the SCW with small amount of contaminants differ in great extent from the behaviour of pure SCW. - Abstract: Supercritical water is a promising working fluid in the new Generation IV nuclear power plants. Due to the presence of the pseudo-critical line, the thermo-hydraulics (thermal and flow properties) and the physical chemistry of the supercritical water differ significantly from the pressurized hot water used in pressurized water reactors. In this study we would like to analyse the effect of small amount of inorganic material on the thermo-hydraulics of the supercritical water cooled nuclear reactors and other, non-nuclear supercritical water loops.

  2. Research on flow characteristics of supercritical CO2 axial compressor blades by CFD analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takagi, Kazuhisa; Muto, Yasushi; Ishizuka, Takao; Kikura, Hiroshige; Aritomi, Masanori

    2010-01-01

    A supercritical CO 2 gas turbine of 20MPa is suitable to couple with the Na-cooled fast reactor since Na - CO 2 reaction is mild at the outlet temperature of 800K, the cycle thermal efficiency is relatively high and the size of CO 2 gas turbine is very compact. In this gas turbine cycle, a compressor operates near the critical point. The property of CO 2 and then the behavior of compressible flow near the critical point changes very sharply. So far, such a behavior is not examined sufficiently. Then, it is important to clarify compressible flow near the critical point. In this paper, an aerodynamic design of the axial supercritical CO 2 compressor for this system has been carried out based on the existing aerodynamic design method of Cohen. The cycle design point was selected to achieve the maximum cycle thermal efficiency of 43.8%. For this point, the compressor design conditions were determined. They are a mass flow rate of 2035kg/s, an inlet temperature of 308K, an inlet static pressure of 8.26MPa, an outlet static pressure of 20.6MPa and a rotational speed of 3600rpm. The mean radius was constant through axial direction. The design point was determined so as to keep the diffusion factor and blade stress within the allowable limits. Number of stages and an expected adiabatic efficiency was 14 and 87%, respectively. CFD analyses by FLUENT have been done for this compressor blade. The blade model consists of one set of a guide vane, a rotor blade and a stator blade. The analyses were conducted under the assumption both of the real gas properties and also of the modified ideal gas properties. Using the real gas properties, analysis was conducted for the 14th blade, whose condition is remote from the critical point and the possibility of divergence is very small. Then, the analyses were conducted for the blade whose conditions are nearer to the critical point. Gradually, divergence of calculation was encountered. Convergence was relatively easy for the modified

  3. Continuous production of biodiesel under supercritical methyl acetate conditions: Experimental investigation and kinetic model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farobie, Obie; Matsumura, Yukihiko

    2017-10-01

    In this study, biodiesel production by using supercritical methyl acetate in a continuous flow reactor was investigated for the first time. The aim of this study was to elucidate the reaction kinetics of biodiesel production by using supercritical methyl. Experiments were conducted at various reaction temperatures (300-400°C), residence times (5-30min), oil-to-methyl acetate molar ratio of 1:40, and a fixed pressure of 20MPa. Reaction kinetics of biodiesel production with supercritical methyl acetate was determined. Finally, biodiesel yield obtained from this method was compared to that obtained with supercritical methanol, ethanol, and MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether). The results showed that biodiesel yield with supercritical methyl acetate increased with temperature and time. The developed kinetic model was found to fit the experimental data well. The reactivity of supercritical methyl acetate was the lowest, followed by that of supercritical MTBE, ethanol, and methanol, under the same conditions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Morphodynamics of supercritical high-density turbidity currents

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cartigny, M.

    2012-01-01

    Seafloor and outcrop observations combined with numerical and physical experiments show that turbidity currents are likely 1) to be in a supercritical flow state and 2) to carry high sediment concentrations (being of high-density). The thesis starts with an experimental study of bedforms

  5. Regeneration of a deactivated USY alkylation catalyst using supercritical isobutane

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daniel M. Ginosar; David N. Ghompson; Kyle C. Burch

    2005-01-01

    Off-line, in-situ alkylation activity recovery from a completely deactivated solid acid catalyst was examined in a continuous-flow reaction system employing supercritical isobutane. A USY zeolite catalyst was initially deactivated during the liquid phase alkylation of butene with isobutane in a single-pass reactor and then varying amounts of alkylation activity were recovered by passing supercritical isobutane over the catalyst bed at different reactivation conditions. Temperature, pressure and regeneration time were found to play important roles in the supercritical isobutane regeneration process when applied to a completely deactivated USY zeolite alkylation catalyst. Manipulation of the variables that influence solvent strength, diffusivity, surface desorption, hydride transfer rates, and coke aging, strongly influence regeneration effectiveness.

  6. CFD analysis of flow and heat transfer in Canadian supercritical water reactor bundle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Podila, K.; Rao, Y.F.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Flow and heat transfer in SCWR fuel bundle design by AECL is studied using CFD. • Bare-rod bundle geometry is tested at 23.5, 25 and 28 MPa using STAR-CCM+ code. • SST k–ω low-Re model was used to study occurrence of heat transfer deterioration. - Abstract: Within the Gen-IV International Forum, AECL is leading the effort in developing a conceptual design for the Canadian SCWR. AECL proposed a new fuel bundle design with two rings of fuel elements placed between central flow tube and the pressure tube. In line with the scope of the conceptual design, the objective of the present CFD work is to aid in developing a bundle heat transfer correlation for the Canadian SCWR fuel bundle design. This paper presents results from an ongoing effort in determining the conditions favorable for occurrence of HTD in the supercritical bundle flows. In the current investigation, bare-rod bundle geometry was tested for the proposed fuel bundle design at 23.5, 25 and 28 MPa using STAR-CCM+ CFD code. Taking advantage of the design symmetry of the fuel bundle, only 1/32 of the computational domain was simulated. The low-Reynolds number modification of SST k–ω turbulence model along with y + < 1 was used in the simulations. For lower mass flow simulations, the increase of inlet temperature and operational pressure was found effective in reducing the occurrence of HTD. For higher mass flow simulations, normal heat transfer behaviour was observed except for the lower pressure range (23.5 MPa)

  7. Heat Transfer to Supercritical Water in Gaseous State or Affected by Mixed Convection in Vertical Tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pis'menny, E.N.; Razumovskiy, V.G.; Maevskiy, E.M.; Koloskov, A.E.; Pioro, I.L.

    2006-01-01

    The results on heat transfer to supercritical water heated above the pseudo-critical temperature or affected by mixed convection flowing upward and downward in vertical tubes of 6.28-mm and 9.50-mm inside diameter are presented. Supercritical water heat-transfer data were obtained at a pressure of 23.5 MPa, mass flux within the range from 250 to 2200 kg/(m 2 s), inlet temperature from 100 to 415 deg. C and heat flux up to 3.2 MW/m 2 . Temperature regimes of the tubes cooled with supercritical water in a gaseous state (i.e., supercritical water at temperatures beyond the pseudo-critical temperature) were stable and easily reproducible within a wide range of mass and heat fluxes. An analysis of the heat-transfer data for upward and downward flows enabled to determine a range of Gr/Re 2 values corresponding to the maximum effect of free convection on the heat transfer. It was shown that: 1) the heat transfer coefficient at the downward flow of water can be higher by about 50% compared to that of the upward flow; and 2) the deteriorated heat-transfer regime is affected with the flow direction, i.e., at the same operating conditions, the deteriorated heat transfer may be delayed at the downward flow compared to that at the upward flow. These heat-transfer data are applicable as the reference dataset for future comparison with bundle data. (authors)

  8. Theoretical research of helium pulsating heat pipe under steady state conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, D; Liu, H M; Li, L F; Huang, R J; Wang, W

    2015-01-01

    As a new-type heat pipe, pulsating heat pipe (PHP) has several outstanding features, such as great heat transport ability, strong adjustability, small size and simple construction. PHP is a complex two-phase flow system associated with many physical subjects and parameters, which utilizes the pressure and temperature changes in volume expansion and contraction during phase changes to excite the pulsation motion of liquid plugs and vapor bubbles in the capillary tube between the evaporator and the condenser. At present time, some experimental investigation of helium PHP have been done. However, theoretical research of helium PHP is rare. In this paper, the physical and mathematical models of operating mechanism for helium PHP under steady state are established based on the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Several important parameters are correlated and solved, including the liquid filling ratio, flow velocity, heat power, temperature, etc. Based on the results, the operational driving force and flow resistances of helium PHP are analysed, and the flow and heat transfer is further studied. (paper)

  9. Theoretical research of helium pulsating heat pipe under steady state conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, D.; Liu, H. M.; Li, L. F.; Huang, R. J.; Wang, W.

    2015-12-01

    As a new-type heat pipe, pulsating heat pipe (PHP) has several outstanding features, such as great heat transport ability, strong adjustability, small size and simple construction. PHP is a complex two-phase flow system associated with many physical subjects and parameters, which utilizes the pressure and temperature changes in volume expansion and contraction during phase changes to excite the pulsation motion of liquid plugs and vapor bubbles in the capillary tube between the evaporator and the condenser. At present time, some experimental investigation of helium PHP have been done. However, theoretical research of helium PHP is rare. In this paper, the physical and mathematical models of operating mechanism for helium PHP under steady state are established based on the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Several important parameters are correlated and solved, including the liquid filling ratio, flow velocity, heat power, temperature, etc. Based on the results, the operational driving force and flow resistances of helium PHP are analysed, and the flow and heat transfer is further studied.

  10. Heat Transfer Experiment with Supercritical CO2 Flowing Upward in a Circular Tube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyung Rae; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Song, Jin Ho; Kim, Hee Dong; Bae, Yoon Yeong

    2005-01-01

    SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor) is one of the six reactor candidates selected in the Gen-IV project, which aims at the development of new reactors with enhanced economy and safety. Heat transfer experiments under supercritical conditions are required in relevant geometries for the proper prediction of thermo-hydraulic phenomena in a reactor core. A heat transfer test loop, named as SPHINX (Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), has been constructed in KAERI. The loop uses carbon dioxide as a surrogate fluid for water since the critical pressure and temperature of CO 2 are much lower those of water. As a first stage of heat transfer experiments, a single tube test is being performed in the test loop. Controlled parameters for the tests are operating pressure, mass flux, and heat flux. Wall temperatures are measured along the tube. Experimental data are compared with existing correlations

  11. Supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle compression and control near the critical point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wright, S. A.; Fuller, R.; Noall, J.; Radel, R.; Vernon, M. E.; Pickard, P. S.

    2008-01-01

    This report describes the supercritical compression and control issues, the analysis, and the measured test results of a small-scale supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) compression test-loop. The test loop was developed by Sandia and is described in a companion paper in this conference. The results of these experiments will for the first time evaluate and experimentally demonstrate supercritical compression and the required compressor inlet control approaches on an appropriate scale in a series of test loops at Sandia National Laboratories. The Sandia effort is focused on the main compressor of a supercritical Brayton loop while a separate DOE Gen lV program focus is on studying similar behavior in re-compression Brayton cycles that have dual compressors. One of the main goals of this program is to develop and demonstrate the ability to design, operate, and control the supercritical compression process near the critical point due to highly non-linear behavior near this point. This Sandia supercritical test-loop uses a 50 kW radial compressor to pump supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) through an orifice and through a water-cooled gas-chiller. At the design point the compressor flow rate is 3.5 kg/s, the inlet pressure is 7, 690 kPa, the pressure ratio is 1.8, the inlet temperature is 305 K, and the shaft speed is 75, 000 rpm. The purpose of the loop is to study the compression and control issues near the critical point. To study compression we intend to compare the design code predictions for efficiency and change in enthalpy (or pressure ratio / head) of the radial compressor with the measured results from actual tests. In the tests the inlet flow, temperature, and pressure, will be varied around the critical point of CO 2 (Tc=304.2 K, and Pc=7.377 MPa). To study control, the test loop will use a variety of methods including inventory control, shaft speed control, and cooling water flow rate, and cooling water temperature control methods to set the compressor inlet temperature

  12. Consideration of heat transfer performance of helium-gas/water coolers in HENDEL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Miyamoto, Yoshiaki

    1986-10-01

    The helium engineering loop (HENDEL) has four helium-gas/water coolers, where the cooling water flows in the tubes and the helium gas flows on the shell side. Their cooling performance depends on mainly the heat transfer of helium gas on the shell side. This report describes the operational data of the coolers and the consideration of the heat transfer performance which is important for the design of coolers. It becomes clear that Donohue's equation is close to the operational data and conservative for the segmental baffle type cooler and preduction by Fishenden-Saunders or Zukauskas' equation is conservation for the step-up baffle type cooler. (author)

  13. Supercritical Fluid Chromatography/Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Of Food Components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvey, Elizabeth M.; Page, Samuel W.; Taylor, Larry T.

    1989-12-01

    Supercritical fluid (SF) technologies are being investigated extensively for applications in food processing. The number of SF-related patents issued testifies to the level of interest. Among the properties of materials at temperatures and pressures above their critical points (supercritical fluids) is density-dependent solvating power. Supercritical CO2 is of particular interest to the food industry because of its low critical temperature (31.3°C) and low toxicity. Many of the components in food matrices react or degrade at elevated temperatures and may be adversely affected by high temperature extractions. Likewise, these components may not be amenable to GC analyses. Our SF research has been in the development of methods employing supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and extraction (SFE) coupled to a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer to investigate food composition. The effects of processing techniques on the isomeric fatty acid content of edible oils and the analysis of lipid oxidation products using SFC/FT-IR with a flow-cell interface are described.

  14. Supercritical fluid chromatography-A Hybrid of GC and LC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neha Sethi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available High performance specifications and unique functionality of chromatographic techniques is a demand of pharmaceutical industry and research. This leads to the origin of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC. It is a rapidly expanding analytical technique. The main feature that differentiates SFC from other chromatographic techniques is the replacement of either the liquid or gas mobile phase with a supercritical fluid mobile phase. It is considered a hybrid of GC and LC technique. High diffusion coefficient and low viscosity of supercritical fluids is responsible for high speed analysis, high efficiency and high sensitivity. Low mobile-phase flow rate, density programming and compatability with GC and LC detectors make SFC a versatile chromatographic technique in analytical re-search and development. It has a unique characteristic of analyzing thermo labile or non-volatile substances. This review highlights the role of supercritical fluid chromatography in the separation of polymers, thermally labile pesticides, fatty acids, metal chelates and organometallic compounds, chiral and achiral molecules, identification and analysis of polar samples, explosives, drugs of abuse and application of SFC in forensic science (fingerprint-ing.

  15. Heat Transfer Characteristics for an Upward Flowing Supercritical Pressure CO{sub 2} in a Vertical Circular Tube

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Deog Ji

    2008-02-15

    The SCWR(Super Critical Water-cooled Reactor) is one of the feasible options for the 4th generation nuclear power plant, which is being pursued by an international collaborative organization, the Gen IV International Forum(GIF). The major advantages of the SCWR include a high thermal efficiency and a maximum use of the existing technologies. In the SCWR, the coolant(water) of a supercritical pressure passes the pseudo-critical temperature as it flows upward through the sub-channels of the fuel assemblies. At certain conditions a heat transfer deterioration occurs near the pseudo-critical temperature and it may cause an excessive rise of the fuel surface temperature. Therefore, an accurate estimation of the heat transfer coefficient is necessary for the thermal-hydraulic design of the reactor core. A test facility, SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for the Next Generation), dedicated to produce heat transfer data and study flow characteristics, uses supercritical pressure CO{sub 2} as a surrogate medium to take advantage of the relatively low critical temperature and pressure: and similar physical properties with water. The produced data includes the temperature of the heating surface and the heat transfer coefficient at varying mass fluxes, heat fluxes, and operating pressures. The test section is a circular tube of ID 6.32 mm: it is almost the same as the hydraulic diameter of the sub-channel in the conceptional design presented by KAERI. The test range of the mass flux is 285 to 1200 kg/m{sup 2}s and the maximum heat flux is 170 kW/m{sup 2}. The tests were mainly performed for an inlet pressure of 8.12 MPa which is 1.1 times of critical pressure. With the test results of the wall temperature and the heat transfer coefficient, effects of mass flux, heat flux, inlet pressure, and the tube diameter on the heat transfer were studied. And the test results were compared with the existing correlations of the Nusselt number. In addition, New

  16. The Chalk River helium jet and skimmer system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmeing, H.; Koslowsky, V.; Wightman, M.; Hardy, J.C.; MacDonald, J.A.; Faestermann, T.; Andrews, H.R.; Geiger, J.S.; Graham, R.L.

    1976-01-01

    A helium jet and skimmer system intended as an interface between a target location at the Chalk River tandem accelerator and the ion source of an on-line separator presently under construction has been developed. The system consists of a target chamber, a 125 cm long capillary, and a one stage skimmer chamber. The designs of the target and skimmer chambers allow one to vary a large number of independent flow and geometrical parameters with accurate reproducibility. Experiments with the β-delayed proton emitter 25 Si (tsub(1/2)=218 ms) produced in the reaction 24 Mg( 3 He,2n) 25 Si show that under optimized conditions about 75% of the reaction products leaving the target are transported to the skimmer. Of those, more than 90% pass through the skimmer orifice, which separates off 97.5% of the transport gas, helium. By introducing an additional helium flow across the skimming orifice the amount of helium separated off the transport jet can be increased to beyond 99.85%, leaving the high throughput of recoils unaffected. (Auth.)

  17. Design of experimental system for supercritical CO2 fracturing under confining pressure conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, H.; Lu, Q.; Li, X.; Yang, B.; Zheng, Y.; Shi, L.; Shi, X.

    2018-03-01

    Supercritical CO2 has the characteristics of low viscosity, high diffusion and zero surface tension, and it is considered as a new fluid for non-polluting and non-aqueous fracturing which can be used for shale gas development. Fracturing refers to a method of utilizing the high-pressure fluid to generate fractures in the rock formation so as to improve the oil and gas flow conditions and increase the oil and gas production. In this article, a new type of experimental system for supercritical CO2 fracturing under confining pressure conditions is designed, which is based on characteristics of supercritical CO2, shale reservoir and down-hole environment. The experimental system consists of three sub-systems, including supercritical CO2 generation system, supercritical CO2 fracturing system and data analysis system. It can be used to simulate supercritical CO2 fracturing under geo-stress conditions, thus to study the rock initiation pressure, the formation of the rock fractures, fractured surface morphology and so on. The experimental system has successfully carried out a series of supercritical CO2 fracturing experiments. The experimental results confirm the feasibility of the experimental system and the high efficiency of supercritical CO2 in fracturing tight rocks.

  18. Materials processing using supercritical fluids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orlović Aleksandar M.

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the most interesting areas of supercritical fluids applications is the processing of novel materials. These new materials are designed to meet specific requirements and to make possible new applications in Pharmaceuticals design, heterogeneous catalysis, micro- and nano-particles with unique structures, special insulating materials, super capacitors and other special technical materials. Two distinct possibilities to apply supercritical fluids in processing of materials: synthesis of materials in supercritical fluid environment and/or further processing of already obtained materials with the help of supercritical fluids. By adjusting synthesis parameters the properties of supercritical fluids can be significantly altered which further results in the materials with different structures. Unique materials can be also obtained by conducting synthesis in quite specific environments like reversed micelles. This paper is mainly devoted to processing of previously synthesized materials which are further processed using supercritical fluids. Several new methods have been developed to produce micro- and nano-particles with the use of supercritical fluids. The following methods: rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS supercritical anti-solvent (SAS, materials synthesis under supercritical conditions and encapsulation and coating using supercritical fluids were recently developed.

  19. Determination of helium in beryl minerals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souza Barcellos, E. de.

    1985-08-01

    In order to obtain the diffusion coefficients of helium in beryl and phenacite samples at various temperatures, helium leak rates were measured in these minerals at these temperatures. Mass spectrometry (MS) was used to obtain helium leak rates and the gas flow was plotted against time. The gas quantity determined by MS was first obtained at various temperatures until no helium leak rate was detected. After that, these samples were irradiated with fast neutrons to produce helium which was measured again. This procedure was used to estimate the experimental error. The quantity of helium produced by interaction of gamma radiation with beryl minerals was theoretically calculated from the amount of thorium-232 at the neighbourhood of the samples. The quantity of helium produced in the minerals due to uranium and thorium decay was calculated using the amount of these heavy elements, and the results were compared with the amounts determined by MS. The amount of potassium-40 was determined in order to derive the quantity of argonium-40, since some workers found argonium in excess in these minerals. The quantity of helium in the beryl samples (s) was determined in the center and in the surface of the samples in order to obtain informations about the effectiveness of the Be(α, η) He reaction. Beryl and phenacite minerals were choosen in this research since they are opposite each other with respect to the helium contents. Both have beryllium in their compositon but beryl hold a large amount of helium while phenacite, in spite of having about three times more beryllium than beryl, do not hold the gas. (author) [pt

  20. Computational analysis of supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle power conversion system for fusion reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halimi, Burhanuddin; Suh, Kune Y.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Computational analysis of S-CO 2 Brayton cycle power conversion system. ► Validation of numerical model with literature data. ► Recompression S-CO 2 Brayton cycle thermal efficiency of 42.44%. ► Reheating concept to enhance the cycle thermal efficiency. ► Higher efficiency achieved by the proposed concept. - Abstract: The Optimized Supercritical Cycle Analysis (OSCA) code is being developed to analyze the design of a supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO 2 ) driven Brayton cycle for a fusion reactor as part of the Modular Optimal Balance Integral System (MOBIS). This system is based on a recompression Brayton cycle. S-CO 2 is adopted as the working fluid for MOBIS because of its easy availability, high density and low chemical reactivity. The reheating concept is introduced to enhance the cycle thermal efficiency. The helium-cooled lithium lead model AB of DEMO fusion reactor is used as reference in this paper.

  1. Development Status of the Helium Circulator for the HCS of HCCR-TBS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Eo Hwak; Jin, Hyung Gon; Yoon, Jae Sung; Kim, Suk Kwon; Lee, Dong Won; Lee, Si Woo; Cho, Seung Yon

    2016-01-01

    The calculated eddy current loss on the stainless steel sealing cap of the magnetic coupling device is very high. To solve the eddy current loss problem of the sealing cap, a glass fiber composite, non-conductive and high strength material, is adapted as a material of the sealing cap. The HCCR TBM will be cooled down by HCS (Helium Cooling System), supply high pressure (8 MPa) and temperature (300 .deg. C) helium coolant with 1.15 kg/s of mass flow for nominal operation. The real-scale helium circulator, which is main component of the HCS, has been developed since 2014. In present study, design and manufacture progress of the helium circulator and its verification test plan are described. The real-scale circulator has been developed to provide high temperature and pressure of helium flow as a coolant of the HCCR TBM. To prevent helium leakage, magnetic coupling design was adapted between the shaft and the impeller

  2. Supercritical extraction of lycopene from tomato industrial wastes with ethane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nobre, Beatriz P; Gouveia, Luisa; Matos, Patricia G S; Cristino, Ana F; Palavra, António F; Mendes, Rui L

    2012-07-11

    Supercritical fluid extraction of all-E-lycopene from tomato industrial wastes (mixture of skins and seeds) was carried out in a semi-continuous flow apparatus using ethane as supercritical solvent. The effect of pressure, temperature, feed particle size, solvent superficial velocity and matrix initial composition was evaluated. Moreover, the yield of the extraction was compared with that obtained with other supercritical solvents (supercritical CO₂ and a near critical mixture of ethane and propane). The recovery of all-E-lycopene increased with pressure, decreased with the increase of the particle size in the initial stages of the extraction and was not practically affected by the solvent superficial velocity. The effect of the temperature was more complex. When the temperature increased from 40 to 60 °C the recovery of all-E-lycopene increased from 80 to 90%. However, for a further increase to 80 °C, the recovery remained almost the same, indicating that some E-Z isomerization could have occurred, as well as some degradation of lycopene. The recovery of all-E-lycopene was almost the same for feed samples with different all-E-lycopene content. Furthermore, when a batch with a higher all-E-lycopene content was used, supercritical ethane and a near critical mixture of ethane and propane showed to be better solvents than supercritical CO₂ leading to a faster extraction with a higher recovery of the carotenoid.

  3. Thermal Performance of a Dual-Channel, Helium-Cooled, Tungsten Heat Exchanger

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youchison, Dennis L.; North, Mart T.

    2000-01-01

    Helium-cooled, refractory heat exchangers are now under consideration for first wall and divertor applications. These refractory devices take advantage of high temperature operation with large delta-Ts to effectively handle high heat fluxes. The high temperature helium can then be used in a gas turbine for high-efficiency power conversion. Over the last five years, heat removal with helium was shown to increase dramatically by using porous metal to provide a very large effective surface area for heat transfer in a small volume. Last year, the thermal performance of a bare-copper, dual-channel, helium-cooled, porous metal divertor mock-up was evaluated on the 30 kW Electron Beam Test System at Sandia National Laboratories. The module survived a maximum absorbed heat flux of 34.6 MW/m 2 and reached a maximum surface temperature of 593 C for uniform power loading of 3 kW absorbed on a 2-cm 2 area. An impressive 10 kW of power was absorbed on an area of 24 cm 2 . Recently, a similar dual-module, helium-cooled heat exchanger made almost entirely of tungsten was designed and fabricated by Thermacore, Inc. and tested at Sandia. A complete flow test of each channel was performed to determine the actual pressure drop characteristics. Each channel was equipped with delta-P transducers and platinum RTDs for independent calorimetry. One mass flow meter monitored the total flow to the heat exchanger, while a second monitored flow in only one of the channels. The thermal response of each tungsten module was obtained for heat fluxes in excess of 5 MW/m 2 using 50 C helium at 4 MPa. Fatigue cycles were also performed to assess the fracture toughness of the tungsten modules. A description of the module design and new results on flow instabilities are also presented

  4. Peculiarities of void fraction measurement applied to physical installation channels cooled by forced helium flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Danilov, V.V.; Filippov, Yu.P.; Mamedov, I.S.

    1989-01-01

    The methods of optimizing the transducers designed for measurements of the void fraction of two-phase flows in the channels of round and annular cross section are presented. On the basis of the analysis performed concrete solution of relatively high technical characteristics are proposed. Rated and actual characteristics of signal ranges and measurement errors are given for both sensors. Influence of the mass velocity on the void fraction of adiabatic two-phase flows is theoretically analyzed. Effects of friction and of liquid-into-vapour entrainment are shown. Calculation results are compared with the obtained experimental data for helium. Special attention is given to the specific features of the processes in channels with different cross section. 17 refs.; 5 figs.; 1 tab

  5. CFD validation of a supercritical water flow for SCWR design heat and mass fluxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roelofs, F.; Lycklama a Nijeholt, J.A.; Komen, E.M.J.; Lowenberg, M.; Starflinger, J.

    2007-01-01

    The applicability of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for water under supercritical conditions in supercritical water reactors (SCWR) has still to be verified. In the recent past, CFD validation analyses were performed by various institutes for supercritical water in vertical tubes based on the well known experimental data from Yamagata. However, validation using data from experiments with working conditions closer to the actual operational conditions of such reactors is needed. From a literature survey the experiments performed by Herkenrath are selected to perform validation analyses at higher heat fluxes and a higher mass flux. The accuracy of CFD using RANS (Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes) turbulence modelling for supercritical fluids under conditions close to the operational conditions of a supercritical water reactor is determined. It is concluded that the wall temperature can be predicted by RANS CFD, using the RNG k-ε turbulence model, with accuracy in the range of 5% for heat fluxes up to 1100 kW/m 2 and for a bulk enthalpy up to 2200 kJ/kg. For a bulk enthalpy exceeding 2200 kJ/kg, a significant lower accuracy of the CFD predictions (about 3%) is found for the simulations of the experiments of Yamagata in comparison with the simulations of the experiments of Herkenrath. For these experiments, the accuracy is about 18 per cent. This might be a result of the fact that the CFD analyses do not simulate the flattening of the temperature profile at about 2200 kJ/kg which is found in the experiments of Herkenrath. However, the obtained accuracies ranging from 3% to 18% are still deemed to be acceptable for many design purposes. (authors)

  6. Synthesis of inorganic materials in a supercritical carbon dioxide medium. Application to ceramic cross-flow filtration membranes preparation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Papet, Sebastien

    2000-01-01

    Membrane separations, using cross-flow mineral ceramic membranes, allows fractionation of aqueous solutions due to the molecular sieve effect and electrostatic charges. To obtain a high selectivity, preparation of new selective ceramic membranes is necessary. We propose in this document two different routes to prepare such cross-flow tubular mineral membranes. In the first exposed method, a ceramic material is used, titanium dioxide, synthesized in supercritical carbon dioxide by the hydrolysis of an organometallic precursor of the oxide. The influence of operating parameters is similar to what is observed during a liquid-phase synthesis (sol-gel process), and leads us to control the size and texture of the prepared particles. This material is then used to prepare mineral membrane with a compressed layer process. The particles are mixed with organic components to form a liquid suspension. A layer is then deposited on the internal surface of a tubular porous support by slip-casting. The layer is then dried and compressed on the support before sintering. The obtained membranes arc in the ultrafiltration range. A second process has been developed in this work. It consists on the hydrolysis, in a supercritical CO 2 medium, of a precursor of titanium dioxide infiltrated into the support. The obtained material is then both deposited on the support but also infiltrated into the porosity. This new method leads to obtain ultrafiltration membranes that retain molecules which molecular weight is round 4000 g.mol -1 . Furthermore, we studied mass transfer mechanisms in cross-flow filtration of aqueous solutions. An electrostatic model, based on generalized Nernst-Planck equation that takes into account electrostatic interactions between solutes and the ceramic material, lead us to obtain a good correlation between experimental results and the numerical simulation. (author) [fr

  7. Construction and testing of a double acting bellows liquid helium pump

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burns, W.A.; Green, M.A.; Ross, R.R.; Van Slyke, H.

    1980-05-01

    The double acting reciprocating bellows liquid helium pump built and tested at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory is described. The pump is capable of delivering 50 gs -1 of liquid helium to supply the two-phase cooling sytem for a large superconducting magnet. The pump is driven by a torque motor at room temperature; the reciprocating motion is transmitted to the pump through a shaft which operates between room temperature and 4 0 K. The design details of this liquid helium pump are presented. The helium pump has operated in a helium bath and in pumped forced flow helium circuits. The results of these experimental tests are presented in this report

  8. Effect of Tube Diameter on Heat Transfer to Vertically Upward Flowing Supercritical CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Deog Ji; Kim, Sin; Bae, Yoon Yeong; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Kim, Hyung Rae

    2007-01-01

    Heat transfer characteristics of supercritical carbon dioxide are being investigated experimentally in the test loop named as SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt generation) at KAERI. The main purpose of the experiment is to provide a reliable heat transfer database for a SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor) by a prudent extension of the carbon dioxide test results to the estimation of a heat transfer for water. The produced data will be used in the thermo-hydraulic design of core and safety analysis for SCWR. The aim of the present paper is to study the influence of a tube diameter on a heat transfer. The experiments were completed for tubes of an inside diameter of 4.4mm and 9.0mm, respectively. The heat transfer characteristics from the two tubes of different diameters were compared and discussed

  9. Design of a hydrogen test facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morgan, M.J.; Beam, J.E.; Sehmbey, M.S.; Pais, M.R.; Chow, L.C.; Hahn, O.J.

    1992-01-01

    The Air Force has sponsored a program at the University of Kentucky which will lead to a better understanding of the thermal and fluid instabilities during blowdown of supercritical fluids at cryogenic temperatures. An integral part of that program is the design and construction of that hydrogen test facility. This facility will be capable of providing supercritical hydrogen at 30 bars and 35 K at a maximum flow rate of 0.1 kg/s for 90 seconds. Also presented here is an extension of this facility to accommodate the use of supercritical helium

  10. Supercritical heat transfer in an annular channel with two-sided heaing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sergeev, V.V.; Remizov, O.V.; Gal'chenko, Eh.F.

    1986-01-01

    The paper deals with experimental inestigation into worsening of heat transfer at forced up flow in steam-water mixture in a vertical annular channel with two-sided heating and development of technique for calculation of supercritical heat exchange in this channel. Bench-scale experiments are carried out at high-pressure at mass rates of the coolant equal to 300-865 kg/(m 2 x s), pressure of 9.8-17.8 MPa and heat flux on the internal surface - 20-400 kW/m 2 , on the external surface - 35-450 kW/m 2 . Technique for calculation of supercritical heat exchange in channels with one- and two-sided heating is suggested. Analysis of the obtained experimental data permits to determine conditions for arising departure nucleate boiling on the internal and external surfaces and on both surfaces simultaneously. It is concluded that the suggested technique of calculation adequately reflects the effect of regime parameters of coolant flow on temperature regime of heat transferring surfaces in the supercritical area

  11. Once-through cycle, supercritical-pressure light water cooled reactor concept

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oka, Y.; Koshizuka, S. [Tokyo Univ., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Nuclear Engineering Research Lab

    2001-07-01

    Concept of once-through cycle, supercritical-pressure light water cooled reactors was developed. The research covered major aspects of conceptual design such as cores of thermal and fast reactors, plant system and heat balance, safety system and criteria, accident and transient analysis, LOCA, PSA, plant control and start-up. The advantages of the reactor lie in the compactness of the plant from high specific enthalpy of supercritical water, the simplicity of the once-through cycle and the experiences of major component technologies which are based on supercritical fossil-fired power plants and LWRs. The operating temperatures of the major components are within the experience in spite of high coolant outlet temperature. The once-through cycle is compatible with the tight fuel lattice fast reactor because of high head pumps and small coolant flow rate. (author)

  12. Once-through cycle, supercritical-pressure light water cooled reactor concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oka, Y.; Koshizuka, S.

    2001-01-01

    Concept of once-through cycle, supercritical-pressure light water cooled reactors was developed. The research covered major aspects of conceptual design such as cores of thermal and fast reactors, plant system and heat balance, safety system and criteria, accident and transient analysis, LOCA, PSA, plant control and start-up. The advantages of the reactor lie in the compactness of the plant from high specific enthalpy of supercritical water, the simplicity of the once-through cycle and the experiences of major component technologies which are based on supercritical fossil-fired power plants and LWRs. The operating temperatures of the major components are within the experience in spite of high coolant outlet temperature. The once-through cycle is compatible with the tight fuel lattice fast reactor because of high head pumps and small coolant flow rate. (author)

  13. Critical review of supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of selected oil seeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sovilj Milan N.

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, as a relatively new separation technique, can be used as a very efficient process in the production of essential oils and oleoresins from many of plant materials. The extracts from these materials are a good basis for the new pharmaceutical products and ingredients in the functional foods. This paper deals with supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of selected oil seeds which are of little interest in classical extraction in the food industry. In this article the process parameters in the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, such as pressure, temperature, solvent flow rate, diameter of gound materials, and moisture of oil seed were presented for the following seeds: almond fruits, borage seed, corn germ, grape seed, evening primrose, hazelnut, linseed, pumpkin seed, walnut, and wheat germ. The values of investigated parameters in supercritical extraction were: pressure from 100 to 600 bar, temperature from 10 to 70oC, diameter of grinding material from 0.16 to 2.0 mm, solvent flow used from 0.06 to 30.0 kg/h, amount of oil in the feed from 10.0 to 74.0%, and moisture of oil seed from 1.1 to 7.5%. The yield and quality of the extracts of all the oil seeds as well as the possibility of their application in the pharmaceutical and food, industries were analyzed.

  14. Thermo hydraulic analysis of narrow channel effect in supercritical-pressure light water reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Tao; Chen Juan; Cheng Wanxu

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Detailed thermal analysis with different narrow gaps between fuel rods is given. ► Special characteristics of narrow channels effect on heat transfer in supercritical pressure are shown. ► Reasonable size selection of gaps between fuel rods is proposed for SCWR. - Abstract: The size of the gap between fuel rods has important effects on flow and heat transfer in a supercritical-pressure light water reactor. Based on thermal analysis at different coolant flow rates, the reasonable value range of gap size between fuel rods is obtained, for which the maximum cladding temperature safety limits and installation technology are comprehensively considered. Firstly, for a given design flow rate of coolant, thermal hydraulic analysis of supercritical pressure light water reactor with different gap sizes is provided by changing the fuel rod pitch only. The results show that, by means of reducing the gap size between fuel rods, the heat transfer coefficients between coolant and fuel rod, as well as the heat transfer coefficient between coolant and water rod, would both increase noticeably. Furthermore, the maximum cladding temperature will significantly decrease when the moderator temperature is decreased but coolant temperature remains essentially constant. Meanwhile, the reduction in the maximum cladding temperature in the inner assemblies is much larger than that in the outer assemblies. In addition, the maximum cladding temperature could be further reduced by means of increasing coolant flow rate for each gap size. Finally, the characteristics of narrow channels effect are proposed, and the maximum allowable gap between fuel rods is obtained by making full use of the enhancing narrow channels effect on heat transfer, and concurrently considering installation. This could provide a theoretical reference for supercritical-pressure light water reactor design optimization, in which the effects of gap size and flow rate on heat transfer are both considered.

  15. Application of response surface methodology to optimise supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of volatile compounds from Crocus sativus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Qingsong; Huang, Yuqiu; Zhou, Aicun; Guo, Haipeng; Zhang, Ailian; Wang, Yong

    2014-05-01

    Crocus sativus has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for a long time. The volatile compounds of C. sativus appear biologically active and may act as antioxidants as well as anticonvulsants, antidepressants and antitumour agents. In order to obtain the highest possible yield of essential oils from C. sativus, response surface methodology was employed to optimise the conditions of supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction of the volatile compounds from C. sativus. Four factorswere investigated: temperature, pressure, extraction time and carbon dioxide flow rate. Furthermore, the chemical compositions of the volatile compounds extracted by supercritical fluid extraction were compared with those obtained by hydro-distillation and Soxhlet extraction. The optimum extraction conditions were found to be: optimised temperature 44.9°C, pressure 34.9 MPa, extraction time 150.2 min and CO₂ flow rate 10.1 L h⁻¹. Under these conditions, the mean extraction yield was 10.94 g kg⁻¹. The volatile compounds extracted by supercritical fluid extraction and Soxhlet extraction contained a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids. Response surface methodology was successfully applied for supercritical fluid CO₂ extraction optimisation of the volatile compounds from C. sativus. The study showed that pressure and CO₂ flow rate had significant effect on volatile compounds yield produced by supercritical fluid extraction. This study is beneficial for the further research operating on a large scale. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

  16. Cooling performance of helium-gas/water coolers in HENDEL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Takada, Shoji; Hayashi, Haruyoshi; Kobayashi, Toshiaki; Ohta, Yukimaru; Shimomura, Hiroaki; Miyamoto, Yoshiaki

    1994-01-01

    The helium engineering demonstration loop (HENDEL) has four helium-gas/water coolers where the cooling water flows in the tubes and helium gas on the shell side. Their cooling performance was studied using the operational data from 1982 to 1991. The heat transfer of helium gas on the shell was obtained for segmental and step-up baffle type coolers. Also, the change with operation time was investigated. The cooling performance was lowered by the graphite powder released from the graphite components for several thousand hours and thereafter recovered because the graphite powder from the components was reduced and the powder in the cooler shell was blown off during the operation. (orig.)

  17. First direct observations linking confined supercritical turbidity currents to their depositional architecture and facies characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hage, S.; Cartigny, M.; Hughes Clarke, J. E.; Clare, M. A.; Sumner, E.; Hubbard, S. M.; Talling, P.; Lintern, G.; Stacey, C.; Vardy, M. E.; Hunt, J.; Vendettuoli, D.; Yokokawa, M.; Hizzett, J. L.; Vellinga, A. J.; Azpiroz, M.

    2017-12-01

    Turbidity currents transfer globally significant amounts of sediment via submarine channels from the continental margin to deep submarine fans. Submarine channel inception is thought to result from erosive, supercritical turbidity currents that are common in proximal settings of the marine realm. Recent monitoring of submarine processes have provided the first measurements of supercritical turbidity currents (Hughes Clarke, 2016), demonstrating that they drive the upstream migration of crescentic bedforms in confined submarine channels. Although upstream-migrating bedforms are common in confined channels across the world's oceans, there is considerable debate over the type of deposits that they produce. It is important to understand what types of deposit record these supercritical bedforms to potentially identify them from geological archives. For the first time, we combine direct measurements from supercritical field-scale turbidity currents with the facies and depositional architecture resulting from such flows. We show how the subsurface architecture evolves in a highly active channel at Squamish submarine delta, British Columbia, Canada. Repeated upstream migration of bedforms is found to create two main deposit geometries. First, regular back-stepping beds result from flow deceleration on the slightly-inclined sides of the bedforms. Second, lens-shaped scour fills composed of massive deposits result from erosion of the back-stepping beds by subsequent turbidity currents. We relate our findings to a range of ancient outcrop studies to demonstrate that supercritical flows are common in proximal settings through the geological record. This study provides the first direct observation-based model to identify confined supercritical turbidity currents and their associated upslope-migrating bedforms in the sedimentary record. This is important for correctly identifying the proximal sites of ancient submarine channels that served as past conduits for globally

  18. Deterioration Criterion for Heat Transfer to a Vertically Upward Flowing Supercritical CO{sub 2} in a Circular Tube

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Deog Ji; Kim, Sin [Cheju National University, Jeju (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Yoon Yeong; Kim, Hwan Yeol [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2007-10-15

    The Super Critical Water cooled Reactor (SCWR) concept for Generation IV has generated considerable interest recently and fair amount of research activities are being performed in several countries. A heat transfer at a supercritical pressure has been identified as one of the major research areas for the development of the SCWR. In relation to this, a heat transfer to carbon dioxide, a surrogate fluid for water, is being investigated experimentally in the test loop SPHINX at KAERI. In heat transfer processes at a supercritical pressure, two regsimes are distinguished for the flow of a medium. The first one is called 'normal heat transfer regime,' where the heat transfer coefficient varies continuously. The other one is 'deteriorated heat transfer regime,' where the heat transfer coefficient drops well below the expected value. Since the deterioration increases the fuel cladding wall temperature and may damage the fuel integrity, the knowledge of a function for describing the boundary between these two regimes is essentially required for the safety of fuel and reactor core. An experiment has been performed to examine the conditions for deterioration boundaries in a circular tube, and the criterion for the onset of deterioration is presented.

  19. Heat Transfer Experiment with Supercritical CO{sub 2} Flowing Upward in a Circular Tube

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Hyung Rae; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Song, Jin Ho; Kim, Hee Dong; Bae, Yoon Yeong [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2005-07-01

    SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor) is one of the six reactor candidates selected in the Gen-IV project, which aims at the development of new reactors with enhanced economy and safety. Heat transfer experiments under supercritical conditions are required in relevant geometries for the proper prediction of thermo-hydraulic phenomena in a reactor core. A heat transfer test loop, named as SPHINX (Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), has been constructed in KAERI. The loop uses carbon dioxide as a surrogate fluid for water since the critical pressure and temperature of CO{sub 2} are much lower those of water. As a first stage of heat transfer experiments, a single tube test is being performed in the test loop. Controlled parameters for the tests are operating pressure, mass flux, and heat flux. Wall temperatures are measured along the tube. Experimental data are compared with existing correlations.

  20. Numerical investigation of heat transfer in parallel channels with water at supercritical pressure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shitsi, Edward; Kofi Debrah, Seth; Yao Agbodemegbe, Vincent; Ampomah-Amoako, Emmanuel

    2017-11-01

    Thermal phenomena such as heat transfer enhancement, heat transfer deterioration, and flow instability observed at supercritical pressures as a result of fluid property variations have the potential to affect the safety of design and operation of Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor SCWR, and also challenge the capabilities of both heat transfer correlations and Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD physical models. These phenomena observed at supercritical pressures need to be thoroughly investigated. An experimental study was carried out by Xi to investigate flow instability in parallel channels at supercritical pressures under different mass flow rates, pressures, and axial power shapes. Experimental data on flow instability at inlet of the heated channels were obtained but no heat transfer data along the axial length was obtained. This numerical study used 3D numerical tool STAR-CCM+ to investigate heat transfer at supercritical pressures along the axial lengths of the parallel channels with water ahead of experimental data. Homogeneous axial power shape HAPS was adopted and the heating powers adopted in this work were below the experimental threshold heating powers obtained for HAPS by Xi. The results show that the Fluid Centre-line Temperature FCLT increased linearly below and above the PCT region, but flattened at the PCT region for all the system parameters considered. The inlet temperature, heating power, pressure, gravity and mass flow rate have effects on WT (wall temperature) values in the NHT (normal heat transfer), EHT (enhanced heat transfer), DHT (deteriorated heat transfer) and recovery from DHT regions. While variation of all other system parameters in the EHT and PCT regions showed no significant difference in the WT and FCLT values respectively, the WT and FCLT values respectively increased with pressure in these regions. For most of the system parameters considered, the FCLT and WT values obtained in the two channels were nearly the same. The

  1. Numerical investigation of heat transfer in parallel channels with water at supercritical pressure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward Shitsi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Thermal phenomena such as heat transfer enhancement, heat transfer deterioration, and flow instability observed at supercritical pressures as a result of fluid property variations have the potential to affect the safety of design and operation of Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor SCWR, and also challenge the capabilities of both heat transfer correlations and Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD physical models. These phenomena observed at supercritical pressures need to be thoroughly investigated.An experimental study was carried out by Xi to investigate flow instability in parallel channels at supercritical pressures under different mass flow rates, pressures, and axial power shapes. Experimental data on flow instability at inlet of the heated channels were obtained but no heat transfer data along the axial length was obtained. This numerical study used 3D numerical tool STAR-CCM+ to investigate heat transfer at supercritical pressures along the axial lengths of the parallel channels with water ahead of experimental data. Homogeneous axial power shape HAPS was adopted and the heating powers adopted in this work were below the experimental threshold heating powers obtained for HAPS by Xi. The results show that the Fluid Centre-line Temperature FCLT increased linearly below and above the PCT region, but flattened at the PCT region for all the system parameters considered. The inlet temperature, heating power, pressure, gravity and mass flow rate have effects on WT (wall temperature values in the NHT (normal heat transfer, EHT (enhanced heat transfer, DHT (deteriorated heat transfer and recovery from DHT regions. While variation of all other system parameters in the EHT and PCT regions showed no significant difference in the WT and FCLT values respectively, the WT and FCLT values respectively increased with pressure in these regions. For most of the system parameters considered, the FCLT and WT values obtained in the two channels were nearly the

  2. Thermal flow regulator of refrigerant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubinskij, S.I.; Savchenko, A.G.; Suplin, V.Z.

    1988-01-01

    A thermal flow regulator of refrigerant for helium flow-type temperature-controlled cryostats based on controlling the channel hydraulic resistance due to variation of the flow density and viscosity during liquid helium transformation into the gaseous state. Behind the regulator both two-phase flow and a heated gas can be produced. The regulator resolution is (7-15)x10 -4 l/mW of liquid helium

  3. Thermal Transport and Entropy Production Mechanisms in a Turbulent Round Jet at Supercritical Thermodynamic Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian Ries

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available In the present paper, thermal transport and entropy production mechanisms in a turbulent round jet of compressed nitrogen at supercritical thermodynamic conditions are investigated using a direct numerical simulation. First, thermal transport and its contribution to the mixture formation along with the anisotropy of heat fluxes and temperature scales are examined. Secondly, the entropy production rates during thermofluid processes evolving in the supercritical flow are investigated in order to identify the causes of irreversibilities and to display advantageous locations of handling along with the process regimes favorable to mixing. Thereby, it turned out that (1 the jet disintegration process consists of four main stages under supercritical conditions (potential core, separation, pseudo-boiling, turbulent mixing, (2 causes of irreversibilities are primarily due to heat transport and thermodynamic effects rather than turbulence dynamics and (3 heat fluxes and temperature scales appear anisotropic even at the smallest scales, which implies that anisotropic thermal diffusivity models might be appropriate in the context of both Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS and large eddy simulation (LES approaches while numerically modeling supercritical fluid flows.

  4. On the shear strength of tungsten nano-structures with embedded helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smirnov, R.D.; Krasheninnikov, S.I.

    2013-01-01

    Modification of plastic properties of tungsten nano-structures under shear stress load due to embedded helium atoms is studied using molecular dynamics modelling. The modelling demonstrates that the yield strength of tungsten nano-structures reduces significantly with increasing embedded helium concentration. At high helium concentrations (>10 at%), the yield strength decreases to values characteristic to the pressure in helium nano-bubbles, which are formed in tungsten under such conditions and thought to be responsible for the formation of nano-fuzz on tungsten surfaces irradiated with helium plasma. It is also shown that tungsten plastic flow strongly facilitates coagulation of helium clusters to larger bubbles. The temperature dependencies of the yield strength are obtained. (letter)

  5. Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of oil from Clanis bilineata ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJL

    2012-02-16

    Feb 16, 2012 ... temperature, 35°C; pressure, 25 MPa; supercritical CO2 flow rate, 20 L/min and time, 60 min. ... methyl esters were recovered after solvent evaporation in vacuum ... Effect of time on extraction of the oil from C. bilineata larvae.

  6. Solubilities of ferrocene and acetylferrocene in supercritical carbon dioxide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kazemi, Somayeh; Belandria, Veronica; Janssen, Nico

    2012-01-01

    In this work, the solubilities of ferrocene and acetylferrocene in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) were measured using an analytical method in a quasi-flow apparatus. High-performance liquid chromatography was applied through an online sampling procedure to determine the concentration...

  7. Correlations of CO2 at supercritical pressures in a vertical circular tube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Zhihui; Jiang Peixue

    2010-01-01

    The experiment results of convection heat transfer of CO 2 at supercritical pressures in a 2 mm diameter vertical circular tube for upward flow and downward flow were analyzed for pressures ranging from 78 to 95 bar, inlet temperatures from to 25 to 40 degree C, and inlet Re numbers from 3000 to 20000. The results were compared with some well known empirical correlations for the heat transfer without buoyancy effects and the heat transfer with strong buoyancy effects. It is found that there is a big deviation between the experiment results and empirical correlations. Based on the experiment data, correlations are developed for the local Nusselt correlations of CO 2 at supercritical pressures in vertical circular tubes.(authors)

  8. Destruction of energetic materials by supercritical water oxidation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beulow, S.J.; Dyer, R.B.; Harradine, D.M.; Robinson, J.M.; Oldenborg, R.C.; Funk, K.A.; McInroy, R.E.; Sanchez, J.A.; Spontarelli, T.

    1993-01-01

    Supercritical water oxidation is a relatively low-temperature process that can give high destruction efficiencies for a variety of hazardous chemical wastes. Results are presented examining the destruction of high explosives and propellants in supercritical water and the use of low temperature, low pressure hydrolysis as a pretreatment process. Reactions of cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX), cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX), nitroguanidine (NQ), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) are examined in a flow reactor operated at temperatures between 400 degrees C and 650 degrees C. Explosives are introduced into the reactor at concentrations below the solubility limits. For each of the compounds, over 99.9% is destroyed in less than 30 seconds at temperatures above 600 degrees C. The reactions produce primarily N 2 , N 2 O,CO 2 , and some nitrate and nitrite ions. The distribution of reaction products depends on reactor pressure, temperature, and oxidizer concentration. Kinetics studies of the reactions of nitrate and nitrite ions with various reducing reagents in supercritical water show that they can be rapidly and completely destroyed at temperatures above 525 degrees C. The use of slurries and hydrolysis to introduce high concentrations of explosives into a supercritical water reactor is examined. For some compounds the rate of reaction depends on particle size. The hydrolysis of explosives at low temperatures (<100 degrees C) and low pressures (<1 atm) under basic conditions produces water soluble, non-explosive products which are easily destroyed by supercritical water oxidation. Large pieces of explosives (13 cm diameter) have been successfully hydrolyzed. The rate, extent, and products of the hydrolysis depend on the type and concentration of base. Results from the base hydrolysis of triple base propellant M31A1E1 and the subsequent supercritical water oxidation of the hydrolysis products are presented

  9. Triticonazole enantiomers: Separation by supercritical fluid chromatography and the effect of the chromatographic conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Jianfeng; Fan, Jun; Yan, Yilun; Chen, Xiaodong; Wang, Tai; Zhang, Yaomou; Zhang, Weiguang

    2016-11-01

    Enantiomeric pairs of triticonazole have been successfully separated by supercritical fluid chromatography coupled with a tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamoyl) cellulose-coated chiral stationary phase in this work. The effects of co-solvent, dissolution solvent, flow rate, backpressure, and column temperature have been studied in detail with respect to retention, selectivity, and resolution of triticonazole. As indicated, the co-solvents mostly affected the retention factors and resolution, due to the different molecular structure and polarity. In addition, the dissolution solvents, namely, chloromethanes and alcohols, have been also important for enantioseparation because of the different interaction with stationary phase. Higher flow rate and backpressure led to faster elution of the triticonazole molecules, and the change of column temperature showed slight effect on the resolution of triticonazole racemate. Moreover, a comparative separation experiment between supercritical fluid chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography revealed that chiral supercritical fluid chromatography gave the 3.5 times value of R s /t R2 than high performance liquid chromatography, which demonstrated that supercritical fluid chromatography had much higher separation efficiency. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Lovastatin from the Wheat Bran Obtained after Solid-State Fermentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruchir C. Pansuriya

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of the present work is to extract lovastatin with minimum impurity by using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2. A strain of Aspergillus terreus UV 1617 was used to produce lovastatin by solid-state fermentation (SSF on wheat bran as a solid substrate. Extraction of lovastatin and its hydroxy acid form was initially carried out using organic solvents. Among the different screened solvents, acetonitrile was found to be the most efficient. SC-CO2 was used for extraction of lovastatin from the dry fermented matter. The effect of supercritical extraction parameters such as the amount of an in situ pretreatment solvent, temperature, pressure, flow rate and contact time were investigated. The maximum recovery of lovastatin was obtained with 5 mL of methanol as an in situ pretreatment solvent for 1.5 g of solid matrix, flow rate of the supercritical solvent 2 L/min, temperature 50 °C, and contact time 155 min at a pressure 300 bar. The lovastatin extract obtained after optimizing the conditions of supercritical fluid extraction was found to have 5-fold more HPLC purity than the organic solvent extract.

  11. Numerical experiment on different validation cases of water coolant flow in supercritical pressure test sections assisted by discriminated dimensional analysis part I: the dimensional analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiss, A.; Aszodi, A.

    2011-01-01

    As recent studies prove in contrast to 'classical' dimensional analysis, whose application is widely described in heat transfer textbooks despite its poor results, the less well known and used discriminated dimensional analysis approach can provide a deeper insight into the physical problems involved and much better results in all cases where it is applied. As a first step of this ongoing research discriminated dimensional analysis has been performed on supercritical pressure water pipe flow heated through the pipe solid wall to identify the independent dimensionless groups (which play an independent role in the above mentioned thermal hydraulic phenomena) in order to serve a theoretical base to comparison between well known supercritical pressure water pipe heat transfer experiments and results of their validated CFD simulations. (author)

  12. Computational analysis of supercritical carbon dioxide flow around a turbine and compressor BLADE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Tae W.; Kim, Nam H.; Suh, Kune Y.; Kim, Seung O.

    2007-01-01

    The turbine and compressor isentropic efficiencies are one of the major parameters affecting the overall Brayton cycle efficiency. Thus, the optimal turbine and compressor design should contribute to the economics of future nuclear fission and fusion energy systems. A computation analysis was performed utilizing CFX for the supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO 2 ) flow around a turbine and compressor blade to check on the potential efficiency of the turbine and compressor which determine such basic design values as the blade (or impeller) and nozzle (or diffuser) types, blade height, and minimum and maximum radii of the hub and tip. Basic design values of the turbine and compressor blades based on the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) design code was generated by ANSYS BladeGen TM . The boundary conditions were based on the KALIMER-600 secondary loop. Optimal SCO 2 turbine and compressor blades were developed for high efficiency of 90% by the computational analysis. (author)

  13. Final report on the Controlled Cold Helium Spill Test in the LHC tunnel at CERN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dufay-Chanat, L; Bremer, J; Casas-Cubillos, J; Koettig, T; Vauthier, N; Van Weelderen, R; Winkler, T; Chorowski, M; Grabowski, M; Jedrusyna, A; Lindell, G; Nonis, M

    2015-01-01

    The 27 km circumference LHC underground tunnel is a space in which the helium cooled LHC magnets are installed. The vacuum enclosures of the superconducting magnets are protected by over-pressure safety relief devices that open whenever cold helium escapes either from the magnet cold enclosure or from the helium supply headers, into this vacuum enclosure. A 3-m long no stay zone around these devices is defined based on scale model studies, protecting the personnel against cold burns or asphyxia caused by such a helium release event. Recently, several simulation studies have been carried out modelling the propagation of the helium/air mixture, resulting from the opening of such a safety device, along the tunnel. The released helium flows vary in the range between 1 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. To validate these different simulation studies, real life mock-up tests have been performed inside the LHC tunnel, releasing helium flow rates of 1 kg/s, 0.3 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. For each test, up to 1000 liters of liquid helium were released under standard operational tunnel conditions. The data recorded include oxygen concentration, temperature and flow speed measurements, and video footage used to assess qualitatively the visibility. These measurements have been made in the up- and downstream directions, with respect to the air ventilation flow, of the spill point.This paper presents the experimental set-up under which these release tests were made, the effects of these releases on the atmospheric tunnel condition as a function of the release flow rate. We discuss the modification to the personnel access conditions to the LHC tunnel that are presently implemented as a result of these tests. (paper)

  14. Final report on the Controlled Cold Helium Spill Test in the LHC tunnel at CERN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dufay-Chanat, L.; Bremer, J.; Casas-Cubillos, J.; Chorowski, M.; Grabowski, M.; Jedrusyna, A.; Lindell, G.; Nonis, M.; Koettig, T.; Vauthier, N.; van Weelderen, R.; Winkler, T.

    2015-12-01

    The 27 km circumference LHC underground tunnel is a space in which the helium cooled LHC magnets are installed. The vacuum enclosures of the superconducting magnets are protected by over-pressure safety relief devices that open whenever cold helium escapes either from the magnet cold enclosure or from the helium supply headers, into this vacuum enclosure. A 3-m long no stay zone around these devices is defined based on scale model studies, protecting the personnel against cold burns or asphyxia caused by such a helium release event. Recently, several simulation studies have been carried out modelling the propagation of the helium/air mixture, resulting from the opening of such a safety device, along the tunnel. The released helium flows vary in the range between 1 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. To validate these different simulation studies, real life mock-up tests have been performed inside the LHC tunnel, releasing helium flow rates of 1 kg/s, 0.3 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. For each test, up to 1000 liters of liquid helium were released under standard operational tunnel conditions. The data recorded include oxygen concentration, temperature and flow speed measurements, and video footage used to assess qualitatively the visibility. These measurements have been made in the up- and downstream directions, with respect to the air ventilation flow, of the spill point. This paper presents the experimental set-up under which these release tests were made, the effects of these releases on the atmospheric tunnel condition as a function of the release flow rate. We discuss the modification to the personnel access conditions to the LHC tunnel that are presently implemented as a result of these tests.

  15. Modelling of heat transfer to fluids at a supercritical pressure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shuisheng, He

    2014-01-01

    A key feature of Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) is that, by raising the pressure of the reactor coolant fluid above the critical value, a phase change crisis is avoided. However, the changes in water density as it flows through the core of an SCWR are actually much higher than in the current water-cooled reactors. In a typical design, the ratio of the density of water at the core inlet to that at exit is as high as 7:1. Other fluid properties also vary significantly, especially around the pseudo-critical temperature (at which the specific heat capacity peaks). As a result, turbulent flow and heat transfer behaviour in the core is extremely complex and under certain conditions, significant heat transfer deterioration can potentially occur. Consequently, understanding and being able to predict flow and heat transfer phenomena under normal steady operation conditions and in start-up and hypothetical fault conditions are fundamental to the design of SCWR. There have been intensive studies on flow and heat transfer to fluids at supercritical pressure recently and several excellent review papers have been published. In the talk, we will focus on some turbulence modelling issues encountered in CFD simulations. The talk will first discuss some flow and heat transfer issues related to fluids at supercritical pressures and their potential implications in SCWR, and some recent developments in the understanding and modelling techniques of such problems, which will be followed by an outlook for some future developments.Factors which have a major influence on the flow and will be discussed are buoyancy and flow acceleration due to thermal expansion (both are due to density variations but involve different mechanisms) and the nonuniformity of other fluid properties. In addition, laminar-turbulent flow transition coupled with buoyancy and flow acceleration plays an important role in heat transfer effectiveness and wall temperature in the entrance region but such

  16. Heat Transfer Experiments with Supercritical CO{sub 2} in a Vertical Circular Tube (9.0 mm)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Tae Ho; Kim, Hwan Yeol [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Sim, Woo Gun; Bae, Yoon Yeong [Hannam University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2008-10-15

    Heat transfer test facility, SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat transfer Investigation for NeXt generation), has been operated at KAERI for an investigation of the thermal-hydraulic behaviors of supercritical CO{sub 2} at several test sections with a different geometry. The loop uses CO{sub 2} because it has critical pressure and temperature which is much lower than water. Experimental study of heat transfer to supercritical CO{sub 2} in a vertical circular tube with and inner diameter of 9.0mm has been performed. CO{sub 2} flows downward through the vertical circular tube for the simulation of the water rod which may be used for a moderation of the reactor. The heat transfer characteristics were analyzed and compared with the upward flow test results previously performed at the same test section at KAERI.

  17. A helium regenerative compressor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swift, W.L.; Nutt, W.E.; Sixsmith, H.

    1994-01-01

    This paper discusses the design and performance of a regenerative compressor that was developed primarily for use in cryogenic helium systems. The objectives for the development were to achieve acceptable efficiency in the machine using conventional motor and bearing technology while reducing the complexity of the system required to control contamination from the lubricants. A single stage compressor was built and tested. The compressor incorporates aerodynamically shaped blades on a 218 mm (8.6 inches) diameter impeller to achieve high efficiency. A gas-buffered non-contact shaft seal is used to oppose the diffusion of lubricant from the motor bearings into the cryogenic circuit. Since it is a rotating machine, the flow is continuous and steady, and the machine is very quiet. During performance testing with helium, the single stage machine has demonstrated a pressure ratio of 1.5 at a flow rate of 12 g/s with measured isothermal efficiencies in excess of 30%. This performance compares favorably with efficiencies generally achieved in oil flooded screw compressors

  18. Comparison between a coupled 1D-2D model and a fully 2D model for supercritical flow simulation in crossroads

    KAUST Repository

    Ghostine, Rabih

    2014-12-01

    In open channel networks, flow is usually approximated by the one-dimensional (1D) Saint-Venant equations coupled with an empirical junction model. In this work, a comparison in terms of accuracy and computational cost between a coupled 1D-2D shallow water model and a fully two-dimensional (2D) model is presented. The paper explores the ability of a coupled model to simulate the flow processes during supercritical flows in crossroads. This combination leads to a significant reduction in the computational time, as a 1D approach is used in branches and a 2D approach is employed in selected areas only where detailed flow information is essential. Overall, the numerical results suggest that the coupled model is able to accurately simulate the main flow processes. In particular, hydraulic jumps, recirculation zones, and discharge distribution are reasonably well reproduced and clearly identified. Overall, the proposed model leads to a 30% reduction in run times. © 2014 International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research.

  19. Heat Transfer Phenomena in Supercritical Water Nuclear Reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mark H. Anderson; MichaelL. Corradini; Riccardo Bonazza; Jeremy R. Licht

    2007-01-01

    A supercritical water heat transfer facility has been built at the University of Wisconsin to study heat transfer in a circular and square annular flow channel. A series of integral heat transfer measurements has been carried out over a wide range of heat flux, mass velocity and bulk water temperatures at a pressure of 25 MPa. The circular annular test section geometry is a 1.07 cm diameter heater rod within a 4.29 diameter flow channel

  20. Heat Transfer Phenomena in Supercritical Water Nuclear Reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mark H. Anderson; MichaelL. Corradini; Riccardo Bonazza; Jeremy R. Licht

    2007-10-03

    A supercritical water heat transfer facility has been built at the University of Wisconsin to study heat transfer in ancircular and square annular flow channel. A series of integral heat transfer measurements has been carried out over a wide range of heat flux, mas velocity and bulk water temperatures at a pressure of 25 MPa. The circular annular test section geometry is a 1.07 cm diameter heater rod within a 4.29 diameter flow channel.

  1. Electrostatic charging and levitation of helium II drops

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niemela, J.J.

    1997-01-01

    Liquid Helium II drops, of diameter 1 mm or less, are charged with positive helium ions and subsequently levitated by static electric fields. Stable levitation was achieved for drops of order 100-150 micrometers in diameter. The suspended drops could be translated to arbitrary positions within the levitator using additional superimposed DC electric fields, and also could be made to oscillate stably about their average positions by means of an applied time-varying electric field. A weak corona discharge was used to produce the necessary ions for levitation. A novel superfluid film flow device, developed for the controlled deployment of large charged drops, is described. Also discussed is an adjustable electric fountain that requires only a field emission tip operating at modest potentials, and works in both Helium I and Helium II

  2. Numerical comparison of thermal hydraulic aspects of supercritical carbon dioxide and subcritical water-based natural circulation loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sarkar, Milan Krishna Singhar; Basu, Dipankar Narayan [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati (India)

    2017-02-15

    Application of the supercritical condition in reactor core cooling needs to be properly justified based on the extreme level of parameters involved. Therefore, a numerical study is presented to compare the thermalhydraulic performance of supercritical and single-phase natural circulation loops under low-to-intermediate power levels. Carbon dioxide and water are selected as respective working fluids, operating under an identical set of conditions. Accordingly, a three-dimensional computational model was developed, and solved with an appropriate turbulence model and equations of state. Large asymmetry in velocity and temperature profiles was observed in a single cross section due to local buoyancy effect, which is more prominent for supercritical fluids. Mass flow rate in a supercritical loop increases with power until a maximum is reached, which subsequently corresponds to a rapid deterioration in heat transfer coefficient. That can be identified as the limit of operation for such loops to avoid a high temperature, and therefore, the use of a supercritical loop is suggested only until the appearance of such maxima. Flow-induced heat transfer deterioration can be delayed by increasing system pressure or lowering sink temperature. Bulk temperature level throughout the loop with water as working fluid is higher than supercritical carbon dioxide. This is until the heat transfer deterioration, and hence the use of a single-phase loop is prescribed beyond that limit.

  3. Effect of Tube Diameter on Heat Transfer to Vertically Upward Flowing Supercritical CO{sub 2}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Deog Ji; Kim, Sin [Cheju National University, Jeju (Korea, Republic of); Bae, Yoon Yeong; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Kim, Hyung Rae [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2007-07-01

    Heat transfer characteristics of supercritical carbon dioxide are being investigated experimentally in the test loop named as SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt generation) at KAERI. The main purpose of the experiment is to provide a reliable heat transfer database for a SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor) by a prudent extension of the carbon dioxide test results to the estimation of a heat transfer for water. The produced data will be used in the thermo-hydraulic design of core and safety analysis for SCWR. The aim of the present paper is to study the influence of a tube diameter on a heat transfer. The experiments were completed for tubes of an inside diameter of 4.4mm and 9.0mm, respectively. The heat transfer characteristics from the two tubes of different diameters were compared and discussed.

  4. High-temperature helium-loop facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tokarz, R.D.

    1981-09-01

    The high-temperature helium loop is a facility for materials testing in ultrapure helium gas at high temperatures. The closed loop system is capable of recirculating high-purity helium or helium with controlled impurities. The gas loop maximum operating conditions are as follows: 300 psi pressure, 500 lb/h flow rate, and 2100 0 F temperature. The two test sections can accept samples up to 3.5 in. diameter and 5 ft long. The gas loop is fully instrumented to continuously monitor all parameters of loop operation as well as helium impurities. The loop is fully automated to operate continuously and requires only a daily servicing by a qualified operator to replenish recorder charts and helium makeup gas. Because of its versatility and high degree of parameter control, the helium loop is applicable to many types of materials research. This report describes the test apparatus, operating parameters, peripheral systems, and instrumentation system. The experimental capabilities and test conand presents the results that have been obtained. The study has been conducted using a four-phase approach. The first phase develops the solution to the steady-state radon-diffusion equation in one-dimensieered barriers; disposal charge analysis; analysis of spent fuel policy implementation; spent f water. Field measurements and observations are reported for each site. Analytical data and field measurements are presented in tables and maps. Uranium concentrations in the sediments which were above detection limits ranged from 0.10 t 51.2 ppM. The mean of the logarithms of the uranium concentrations was 0.53. A group of high uranium concentrations occurs near the junctions of quadrangles AB, AC, BB, a 200 mK. In case 2), x-ray studies of isotopic phase separation in 3 He-- 4 He bcc solids were carried out by B. A. Fraass

  5. Thermal-hydraulic analysis of a 600 MW supercritical CFB boiler with low mass flux

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pan Jie; Yang Dong; Chen Gongming; Zhou Xu; Bi Qincheng

    2012-01-01

    Supercritical Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler becomes an important development trend for coal-fired power plant and thermal-hydraulic analysis is a key factor for the design and operation of water wall. According to the boiler structure and furnace-sided heat flux, the water wall system of a 600 MW supercritical CFB boiler is treated in this paper as a flow network consisting of series-parallel loops, pressure grids and connecting tubes. A mathematical model for predicting the thermal-hydraulic characteristics in boiler heating surface is based on the mass, momentum and energy conservation equations of these components, which introduces numerous empirical correlations available for heat transfer and hydraulic resistance calculation. Mass flux distribution and pressure drop data in the water wall at 30%, 75% and 100% of the boiler maximum continuous rating (BMCR) are obtained by iteratively solving the model. Simultaneity, outlet vapor temperatures and metal temperatures in water wall tubes are estimated. The results show good heat transfer performance and low flow resistance, which implies that the water wall design of supercritical CFB boiler is applicable. - Highlights: → We proposed a model for thermal-hydraulic analysis of boiler heating surface. → The model is applied in a 600 MW supercritical CFB boiler. → We explore the pressure drop, mass flux and temperature distribution in water wall. → The operating safety of boiler is estimated. → The results show good heat transfer performance and low flow resistance.

  6. Swirl-Stabilized Injector Flow and Combustion Dynamics for Liquid Propellants at Supercritical Conditions

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Yang, Vigor

    2007-01-01

    An integrated modeling and simulation program has been conducted to substantially improve the fundamental knowledge of supercritical combustion of liquid propellants under conditions representative...

  7. Final report on the Controlled Cold Helium Spill Test in the LHC tunnel at CERN

    CERN Document Server

    Dufay-Chanat, L; Casas-Cubillos, J; Chorowski, M; Grabowski, M; Jedrusyna, A; Lindell, G; Nonis, M; Koettig, T; Vauthier, N; van Weelderen, R; Winkler, T

    2015-01-01

    The 27 km circumference LHC underground tunnel is a space in which the helium cooled LHC magnets are installed. The vacuum enclosures of the superconducting magnets are protected by over-pressure safety relief devices that open whenever cold helium escapes either from the magnet cold enclosure or from the helium supply headers, into this vacuum enclosure. A 3-m long no stay zone around these devices is defined based on scale model studies, protecting the personnel against cold burns or asphyxia caused by such a helium release event. Recently, several simulation studies have been carried out modelling the propagation of the helium/air mixture, resulting from the opening of such a safety device, along the tunnel. The released helium flows vary in the range between 1 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. To validate these different simulation studies, real life mock-up tests have been performed inside the LHC tunnel, releasing helium flow rates of 1 kg/s, 0.3 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s. For each test, up to 1000 liters of liquid helium wer...

  8. Modeling Results For the ITER Cryogenic Fore Pump. Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pfotenhauer, John M. [University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Zhang, Dongsheng [University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

    2014-03-31

    A numerical model characterizing the operation of a cryogenic fore-pump (CFP) for ITER has been developed at the University of Wisconsin – Madison during the period from March 15, 2011 through June 30, 2014. The purpose of the ITER-CFP is to separate hydrogen isotopes from helium gas, both making up the exhaust components from the ITER reactor. The model explicitly determines the amount of hydrogen that is captured by the supercritical-helium-cooled pump as a function of the inlet temperature of the supercritical helium, its flow rate, and the inlet conditions of the hydrogen gas flow. Furthermore the model computes the location and amount of hydrogen captured in the pump as a function of time. Throughout the model’s development, and as a calibration check for its results, it has been extensively compared with the measurements of a CFP prototype tested at Oak Ridge National Lab. The results of the model demonstrate that the quantity of captured hydrogen is very sensitive to the inlet temperature of the helium coolant on the outside of the cryopump. Furthermore, the model can be utilized to refine those tests, and suggests methods that could be incorporated in the testing to enhance the usefulness of the measured data.

  9. Supercritical water: On a road from CFD to NPP simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rintala, Lauri; Danielyan, Davit; Salomaa, Rainer

    2010-01-01

    The Fission and Radiation Physics Group at the Aalto University is contributing to the Finnish SCWR activities within the GEN4FIN-network. Our research involves reactor core thermal hydraulics, and in particular, heat transfer phenomena in supercritical water including both theoretical studies and simulations with APROS and OpenFOAM. APROS is a software applicable to full-scale power plant simulations and OpenFOAM an open source CFD code. The complicated heat transfer in the supercritical region is a very challenging problem for the design of SCWRs and their safety assessment. The steam tables of APROS have been extended to the supercritical region and their functionality has been tested with, e.g. blowdown simulations where the transient is rapid, hence mainly challenging for numerical stability whereas heat transfer has negligible effects. Numerous different heat correlations for supercritical water have been suggested , but simulations of benchmark experiments have shown that for instance fuel clad temperatures generally cannot be described sufficiently accurately. This discrepancy has been encountered in several process simulation codes. The largest errors occur near the pseudo critical line, during the heat transfer deterioration. It turns out that the physics in supercritical water is clearly more intricate than in ordinary boiling heat transfer where rather satisfactory heat transfer correlations are available. Full 3D CFD calculations allow a better description of various aspects of heat transfer in the supercritical region, i.e., effects arising from turbulence , buoyancy , varying material properties etc. On the other hand, CFD calculations are not feasible for plant-scale simulations. We have selected some simplified geometries and parameter ranges to study SCW heat transfer in a reactor. Old experiments have been calculated with satisfactory results with OpenFOAM to check its validity. A steady state case of heat transfer in a circular pipe with upward

  10. Solid catalyzed isoparaffin alkylation at supercritical fluid and near-supercritical fluid conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginosar, Daniel M.; Fox, Robert V.; Kong, Peter C.

    2000-01-01

    This invention relates to an improved method for the alkylation reaction of isoparaffins with olefins over solid catalysts including contacting a mixture of an isoparaffin, an olefin and a phase-modifying material with a solid acid catalyst member under alkylation conversion conditions at either supercritical fluid, or near-supercritical fluid conditions, at a temperature and a pressure relative to the critical temperature(T.sub.c) and the critical pressure(P.sub.c) of the reaction mixture. The phase-modifying phase-modifying material is employed to promote the reaction's achievement of either a supercritical fluid state or a near-supercritical state while simultaneously allowing for decreased reaction temperature and longer catalyst life.

  11. Stability analysis of a heated channel cooled by supercritical water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magni, M. C.; Delmastro, D. F; Marcel, C. P

    2009-01-01

    A simple model to study thermal-hydraulic stability of a heated cannel under supercritical conditions is presented. Single cannel stability analysis for the SCWR (Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor) design was performed. The drastic change of fluid density in the reactor core of a SCWR may induce DWO (Density Wave Oscillations) similar to those observed in BWRs. Due to the similarities between subcritical and supercritical systems we may treat the supercritical fluid as a pseudo two-phase system. Thus, we may extend the modeling approach often used for boiling flow stability analysis to supercritical pressure operation conditions. The model developed in this work take into account three regions: a heavy fluid region, similar to an incompressible liquid; a zone where a heavy fluid and a light fluid coexist, similar to two-phase mixture; and a light fluid region which behaves like superheated steam. It was used the homogeneous equilibrium model (HEM) for the pseudo boiling zone, and the ideal gas model for the pseudo superheated steam zone. System stability maps were obtained using linear stability analysis in the frequency domain. Two possible instability mechanisms are observed: DWO and excursive Ledinegg instabilities. Also, a sensitivity analysis showed that frictions in pseudo superheated steam zone, together with acceleration effect, are the most destabilizing effects. On the other hand, frictions in pseudo liquid zone are the most important stabilizing effect. [es

  12. Diffusion of helium in the Sun

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Noerdlinger, P D [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing (USA). Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Amsterdam Univ. (Netherlands). Sterrenkundig Instituut)

    1977-05-01

    I have reduced the set of diffusion and flow equations developed by Burgers for a multi-component gas to a workable scheme for the actual evaluation of the relative diffusion of hydrogen and helium in stars. Previous analyses have used the Aller and Chapman equations, which apply only to trace constitutents and whose coefficients are not believed to be as accurate as Burgers'. Furthermore, the resulting equations have been combined consistently with Paczynski's stellar evolution code to demonstrate small but significant effects in the Sun, from the thermal and gravitational settling of Helium. The core helium content of a 1 M star goes up about 0.04 and the surface helium content down by about -0.03 in 4.5 10/sup 9/ years. The results are still somewhat uncertain because of uncertainties in the underlying plasma physics, and further research is suggested. In any case, the diffusion process speeds up with time, due to increased temperature gradient, and it will be of interest to follow the process in older stars and in later stellar evolution.

  13. Transient thermal analysis of cryocondensation pump for JET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baxi, C.B.; Obert, W.

    1993-08-01

    A cryopump with pumping speed of 50,000 1/sec is planned to be installed in the Joint European Torus (JET) as part of the pumped divertor. The purpose of this pump is to control the plasma impurities. The pump consists of a helium panel cooled by supercritical helium and a nitrogen shield cooled by liquid nitrogen. This paper presents the following transient thermal flow analysis for this cryopump: 1. Consequences of loss of torus vacuum on helium panel. 2. Cool down of the nitrogen shield form 300 K to 80 K

  14. Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermohydraulics Code Testing for Supercritical Water Cooled Reactors (SCWRs)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-08-01

    The supercritical water cooled reactor (SCWR) is an innovative water cooled reactor concept which uses water pressurized above its thermodynamic critical pressure as the reactor coolant. This concept offers high thermal efficiencies and a simplified reactor system, and is hence expected to help to improve economic competitiveness. Various kinds of SCWR concepts have been developed, with varying combinations of reactor type (pressure vessel or pressure tube) and core spectrum (thermal, fast or mixed). There is great interest in both developing and developed countries in the research and development (R&D) and conceptual design of SCWRs. Considering the high interest shown in a number of Member States, the IAEA established in 2008 the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermo-hydraulics Code Testing for SCWRs. The aim was to foster international collaboration in the R&D of SCWRs in support of Member States’ efforts and under the auspices of the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department’s Technical Working Groups on Advanced Technologies for Light Water Reactors (TWG-LWR) and Heavy Water Reactors (TWG-HWR). The two key objectives of the CRP were to establish accurate databases on the thermohydraulics of supercritical pressure fluids and to test analysis methods for SCWR thermohydraulic behaviour to identify code development needs. In total, 16 institutes from nine Member States and two international organizations were involved in the CRP. The thermohydraulics phenomena investigated in the CRP included heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of supercritical pressure fluids, development of new heat transfer prediction methods, critical flow during depressurization from supercritical conditions, flow stability and natural circulation in supercritical pressure systems. Two code testing benchmark exercises were performed for steady state heat transfer and flow stability in a heated channel. The CRP was completed with the planned outputs in

  15. Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermohydraulics Code Testing for Supercritical Water Cooled Reactors (SCWRs)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2014-08-15

    The supercritical water cooled reactor (SCWR) is an innovative water cooled reactor concept which uses water pressurized above its thermodynamic critical pressure as the reactor coolant. This concept offers high thermal efficiencies and a simplified reactor system, and is hence expected to help to improve economic competitiveness. Various kinds of SCWR concepts have been developed, with varying combinations of reactor type (pressure vessel or pressure tube) and core spectrum (thermal, fast or mixed). There is great interest in both developing and developed countries in the research and development (R&D) and conceptual design of SCWRs. Considering the high interest shown in a number of Member States, the IAEA established in 2008 the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermo-hydraulics Code Testing for SCWRs. The aim was to foster international collaboration in the R&D of SCWRs in support of Member States’ efforts and under the auspices of the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department’s Technical Working Groups on Advanced Technologies for Light Water Reactors (TWG-LWR) and Heavy Water Reactors (TWG-HWR). The two key objectives of the CRP were to establish accurate databases on the thermohydraulics of supercritical pressure fluids and to test analysis methods for SCWR thermohydraulic behaviour to identify code development needs. In total, 16 institutes from nine Member States and two international organizations were involved in the CRP. The thermohydraulics phenomena investigated in the CRP included heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of supercritical pressure fluids, development of new heat transfer prediction methods, critical flow during depressurization from supercritical conditions, flow stability and natural circulation in supercritical pressure systems. Two code testing benchmark exercises were performed for steady state heat transfer and flow stability in a heated channel. The CRP was completed with the planned outputs in

  16. Development of a split-flow system for high precision variable sample introduction in supercritical fluid chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakai, Miho; Hayakawa, Yoshihiro; Funada, Yasuhiro; Ando, Takashi; Fukusaki, Eiichiro; Bamba, Takeshi

    2017-09-15

    In this study, we propose a novel variable sample injection system based on full-loop injection, named the split-flow sample introduction system, for application in supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). In this system, the mobile phase is split by the differential pressure between two back pressure regulators (BPRs) after full-loop injection suitable for SFC, and this differential pressure determines the introduction rate. Nine compounds with a wide range of characteristics were introduced with high reproducibility and universality, confirming that a robust variable sample injection system was achieved. We also investigated the control factors of our proposed system. Sample introduction was controlled by the ratio between the column-side pressure drops in splitless and split flow, ΔP columnsideinsplitless and ΔP columnsideinsplit , respectively, where ΔP columnsideinsplitless is related to the mobile phase flow rate and composition and the column resistance. When all other conditions are kept constant, increasing the make-up flow induces an additional pressure drop on the column side of the system, which leads to a reduced column-side flow rate, and hence decreased the amount of sample injected, even when the net pressure drop on the column side remains the same. Thus, sample introduction could be highly controlled at low sample introduction rate, regardless of the introduction conditions. This feature is advantageous because, as a control factor, the solvent in the make-up pump is independent of the column-side pressure drop. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  17. CANDU with supercritical water coolant: conceptual design features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spinks, N.

    1997-01-01

    An advanced CANDU reactor, with supercritical water as coolant, has many attractive design features. The pressure exceeds 22 MPa but coolant temperatures in excess of 370 degrees C can be reached without encountering the two-phase region with its associated fuel-dry-out and flow-instability problems. Increased coolant temperature leads to increased plant thermodynamic efficiency reducing unit energy cost through reduced specific capital cost and reduced fueling cost. Increased coolant temperature leads to reduced void reactivity via reduced coolant in-core density. Light water becomes a coolant option. To preserve neutron economy, an advanced fuel channel is needed and is described below. A supercritical-water-cooled CANDU can evolve as fuel capabilities evolve to withstand increasing coolant temperatures. (author)

  18. γ-Radiolysis of benzophenone aqueous solution at elevated temperatures up to supercritical condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyazaki, Toyoaki; Katsumura, Yosuke; Lin Mingzhang; Muroya, Yusa; Kudo, Hisaaki; Asano, Masaharu; Yoshida, Masaru

    2006-01-01

    A product analysis study of γ-irradiated benzophenone aqueous solutions from room temperature to 400 deg. C has been carried out by the combination of a flow irradiation system and a liquid chromatographic method. At room temperature, the main decomposition products are phenol and hydroxybenzophenone isomers. In high temperature and supercritical water solutions, 9-fluorenone appears as an important product and the G-value of benzophenone consumption depends significantly on the water density under supercritical conditions

  19. Study on the flow reduction of forced flow superconducting magnet and its stable operation condition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sugimoto, Makoto [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Naka, Ibaraki (Japan). Naka Fusion Research Establishment

    2001-03-01

    The forced flow superconducting coil especially made from a Cable-in-Conduit Conductor (CICC) is applied for large-scale devices such as fusion magnets and superconducting magnet energy storage (SMES) because it has high mechanical and electrical performance potential. The flow reduction phenomena caused by AC loss generation due to the pulsed operation was found based on the experimental results of three forced flow superconducting coils. And relation between the AC loss generation and flow reduction was defined from viewpoint of the engineering design and operation of the coils. Also the mechanism of flow reduction was investigated and stable operation condition under the flow reduction was clarified for forced flow superconducting coils. First, experiments of three different large-scale superconducting coils were carried out and experimental database of the flow reduction by AC loss generation was established. It was found experimentally that the flow reduction depends on the AC loss generation (W/m{sup 3}) in all of coils. It means the stable operation condition is defined not only the electro magnetism of superconducting coil but also flow condition. Mechanism of the flow reduction was investigated based on the experimental database. Hydraulics was applied to supercritical helium as a coolant. Also performances of the cryogenic pump by which coolant are supplied to the coil and friction of the superconductor as cooling path is considered for hydraulic estimation. The flow reduction of the coil is clarified and predictable by the equations of continuity, momentum and energy balance. Also total mass flow rate of coolant was discussed. The estimation method in the design phase was developed for total mass flow rate which are required under the flow reduction by AC losses. The friction of the superconductor and performance of cryogenic pump should be required for precise prediction of flow reduction. These values were obtained by the experiment data of coil and

  20. Extraction with supercritical gases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schneider, G M; Wilke, G; Stahl, E

    1980-01-01

    The contents of this book derives from a symposium on the 5th and 6th of June 1978 in the ''Haus der Technik'' in Essen. Contributions were made to separation with supercritical gases, fluid extraction of hops, spices and tobacco, physicochemical principles of extraction, phase equilibria and critical curves of binary ammonia-hydrocarbon mixtures, a quick method for the microanalytical evaluation of the dissolving power of supercritical gases, chromatography with supercritical fluids, the separation of nonvolatile substances by means of compressed gases in countercurrent processes, large-scale industrial plant for extraction with supercritical gases, development and design of plant for high-pressure extraction of natural products.

  1. LOFA analyses for the water and helium cooled SEAFP reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sponton, L.; Sjoeberg, A.; Nordlinder, S.

    2001-01-01

    This study was performed in the frame of the European long-term fusion safety programme 1999 (SEAFP99). Loss of flow accidents (LOFA) have been studied for two cases, first for a helium cooled reactor with advanced dual-coolant (DUAL) blanket at 100% nominal power. The second case applies to a water-cooled reactor at 20% nominal power. Both transients were simulated with the code MELCOR 1.8.4. The results for the helium cooled reactor show that with a natural circulation flow of helium after the pump stops, the first wall temperature will stay below the temperature for excepted failure of the construction material. For the water cooled reactor, the results show that the pressurizer set point for its liquid volumetric inventory is reached before the plasma facing components attain a critical temperature. The pressurizer set point will induce a plasma shutdown

  2. Numerical investigation of supercritical LNG convective heat transfer in a horizontal serpentine tube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Chang-Liang; Ren, Jing-Jie; Dong, Wen-Ping; Bi, Ming-Shu

    2016-09-01

    The submerged combustion vaporizer (SCV) is indispensable general equipment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals. In this paper, numerical simulation was conducted to get insight into the flow and heat transfer characteristics of supercritical LNG on the tube-side of SCV. The SST model with enhanced wall treatment method was utilized to handle the coupled wall-to-LNG heat transfer. The thermal-physical properties of LNG under supercritical pressure were used for this study. After the validation of model and method, the effects of mass flux, outer wall temperature and inlet pressure on the heat transfer behaviors were discussed in detail. Then the non-uniformity heat transfer mechanism of supercritical LNG and effect of natural convection due to buoyancy change in the tube was discussed based on the numerical results. Moreover, different flow and heat transfer characteristics inside the bend tube sections were also analyzed. The obtained numerical results showed that the local surface heat transfer coefficient attained its peak value when the bulk LNG temperature approached the so-called pseudo-critical temperature. Higher mass flux could eliminate the heat transfer deteriorations due to the increase of turbulent diffusion. An increase of outer wall temperature had a significant influence on diminishing heat transfer ability of LNG. The maximum surface heat transfer coefficient strongly depended on inlet pressure. Bend tube sections could enhance the heat transfer due to secondary flow phenomenon. Furthermore, based on the current simulation results, a new dimensionless, semi-theoretical empirical correlation was developed for supercritical LNG convective heat transfer in a horizontal serpentine tube. The paper provided the mechanism of heat transfer for the design of high-efficiency SCV.

  3. Status of the Swiss LCT-coil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zichy, J; Benz, H.; Horvath, I.; Jakob, B.; Marinucci, C.; Vecsey, G.; Weymuth, P.; Zellweger, J.

    1983-01-01

    The Swiss coil is a forced flow coil cooled by supercritical helium. A brief review of the design considerations, some of its specific features, and the progress in fabrication are described. A discussion of both the instrumentation and the cryogenic characteristics of the coil is presented

  4. Erosion and deposition by supercritical density flows during channel avulsion and backfilling: Field examples from coarse-grained deepwater channel-levée complexes (Sandino Forearc Basin, southern Central America)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Jörg; Brandes, Christian; Winsemann, Jutta

    2017-03-01

    Erosion and deposition by supercritical density flows can strongly impact the facies distribution and architecture of submarine fans. Field examples from coarse-grained channel-levée complexes from the Sandino Forearc Basin (southern Central America) show that cyclic-step and antidune deposits represent common sedimentary facies of these depositional systems and relate to the different stages of avulsion, bypass, levée construction and channel backfilling. During channel avulsion, large-scale scour-fill complexes (18 to 29 m deep, 18 to 25 m wide, 60 to > 120 m long) were incised by supercritical density flows. The multi-storey infill of the large-scale scour-fill complexes comprises amalgamated massive, normally coarse-tail graded or widely spaced subhorizontally stratified conglomerates and pebbly sandstones, interpreted as deposits of the hydraulic-jump zone of cyclic steps. The large-scale scour-fill complexes can be distinguished from small-scale channel fills based on the preservation of a steep upper margin and a coarse-grained infill comprising mainly amalgamated hydraulic-jump zone deposits. Channel fills include repeated successions deposited by cyclic steps with superimposed antidunes. The deposits of the hydraulic-jump zone of cyclic steps comprise regularly spaced scours (0.2 to 2.6 m deep, 0.8 to 23 m long) infilled by intraclast-rich conglomerates or pebbly sandstones, displaying normal coarse-tail grading or backsets. These deposits are laterally and vertically associated with subhorizontally stratified, low-angle cross-stratified or sinusoidally stratified sandstones and pebbly sandstones, which were deposited by antidunes on the stoss side of the cyclic steps during flow re-acceleration. The field examples indicate that so-called spaced stratified deposits may commonly represent antidune deposits with varying stratification styles controlled by the aggradation rate, grain-size distribution and amalgamation. The deposits of small-scale cyclic

  5. Effect of reference conditions on flow rate, modifier fraction and retention in supercritical fluid chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Pauw, Ruben; Shoykhet Choikhet, Konstantin; Desmet, Gert; Broeckhoven, Ken

    2016-08-12

    When using compressible mobile phases such as fluidic CO2, the density, the volumetric flow rates and volumetric fractions are pressure dependent. The pressure and temperature definition of these volumetric parameters (referred to as the reference conditions) may alter between systems, manufacturers and operating conditions. A supercritical fluid chromatography system was modified to operate in two modes with different definition of the eluent delivery parameters, referred to as fixed and variable mode. For the variable mode, the volumetric parameters are defined with reference to the pump operating pressure and actual pump head temperature. These conditions may vary when, e.g. changing the column length, permeability, flow rate, etc. and are thus variable reference conditions. For the fixed mode, the reference conditions were set at 150bar and 30°C, resulting in a mass flow rate and mass fraction of modifier definition which is independent of the operation conditions. For the variable mode, the mass flow rate of carbon dioxide increases with system pump operating pressure, decreasing the fraction of modifier. Comparing the void times and retention factor shows that the deviation between the two modes is almost independent of modifier percentage, but depends on the operating pressure. Recalculating the set volumetric fraction of modifier to the mass fraction results in the same retention behaviour for both modes. This shows that retention in SFC can be best modelled using the mass fraction of modifier. The fixed mode also simplifies method scaling as it only requires matching average column pressure. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Supercritical strata in Lower Paleozoic fluvial rocks: a super critical link to upper flow regime processes and preservation in nature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowe, David; Arnott, Bill

    2015-04-01

    Recent experimental work has much improved our understanding of the lithological attributes of open-channel supercritical flow deposits, namely those formed by antidunes, chutes-and-pools and cyclic steps. However their limited documentation in the ancient sedimentary record brings into question details about their geological preservation. Antidune, chute-and-pool and cyclic step deposits are well developed in sandy ephemeral fluvial deposits of the Upper Cambrian - Lower Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment of eastern North America. These high energy fluvial strata form dm- to a few m-thick units intercalated within thick, areally expansive successions of sheet sandstones consisting mostly of wind ripple and adhesion stratification with common deflation lags. Collectively these strata record deposition in a semi-arid environment in which rare, episodic high-energy fluvial events accounted for most of the influx of sediment from upland sources. Following deposition, however, extensive aeolian processes reworked the sediment pile, and hence modified profoundly the preserved stratigraphic record. Antidune deposits occur as 0.2 - 1.6 m thick cosets made up of 2 - 15 cm thick lenticular sets of low angle (≤ 20o) cross-stratified, medium- to coarse-grained sandstone bounded by low-angle (5 - 15o) concave-upward scours and, in many cases, capped by low angle (10 - 15o) convex-upwards symmetrical formsets. Chute-and-pool deposits form single sets, 5 - 55 cm thick and 0.6 - 6 m wide, with scoured bases and low to high angle (5 - 25o) sigmoidal cross-strata consisting of medium- to coarse-grained sandstone. Cyclic step deposits consist of trough cross-stratified sets, 20 cm - 1.6 m thick, 2.5 - 12 m long and 7 - 35 m wide, typically forming trains that laterally are erosively juxtaposed at regularly-spaced intervals. They are composed of medium- to coarse-grained sandstone with concave-up, moderate to high angle (15 - 35o) cross-strata with tangential bases

  7. A test facility for heat transfer, pressure drop and stability studies under supercritical conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Manish; Pilkhwal, D.S.; Jana, S.S.; Vijayan, P.K.

    2013-02-01

    Supercritical water (SCW) exhibits excellent heat transfer characteristics and high volumetric expansion coefficient (hence high mass flow rates in natural circulation systems) near pseudo-critical temperature. SCW is being considered as a coolant in some advanced nuclear reactor designs on account of its potential to offer high thermal efficiency, compact size, elimination of steam generator, separator and dryer, making it economically competitive. The elimination of phase change results in elimination of the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) phenomenon. Cooling a reactor at full power with natural instead of forced circulation is generally considered as enhancement of passive safety. In view of this, it is essential to study natural circulation, heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of supercritical fluids. Carbon-dioxide can be considered to be a good simulant of water for natural circulation at supercritical conditions since the density and viscosity variation of carbon-dioxide follows a parallel curve as that of water at supercritical conditions. Hence, a supercritical pressure natural circulation loop (SPNCL) has been set up in Hall-7, BARC to investigate the heat transfer, pressure drop and stability characteristics of supercritical carbon-dioxide under natural circulation conditions. The details of the experimental facility are presented in this report. (author)

  8. Supercritical Fluid Chromatography- A Hybrid of GC and LC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaushal K Chandrul

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available

    High performance specifications and unique functionality of chromatographic techniques is a demand of pharmaceutical industry and research. This leads to the origin of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC. It is a rapidly expanding analytical technique. The main feature that differentiates SFC from other chromatographic techniques is the replacement of either the liquid or gas mobile phase with a supercritical fluid mobile phase. It is considered a hybrid of GC and LC technique. High diffusion coefficient and low viscosity of supercritical fluids is responsible for high speed analysis, high efficiency and high sensitivity. Low mobile-phase flow rate, density programming and compatability with GC and LC detectors make SFC a versatile chromatographic technique in analytical research and development. It has a unique characteristic of analyzing thermo labile or non-volatile substances. This review highlights the role of supercritical fluid chromatography in the separation of polymers, thermally labile pesticides, fatty acids, metal chelates and organometallic compounds, chiral and achiral molecules, identification and analysis of polar samples, explosives, drugs of abuse and application of SFC in forensic science (fingerprinting. 

  9. A comparative study of solvent and supercritical Co2 extraction of Simarouba gluaca seed oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anjaneyulu, B.; Satyannarayana, S.; Kanjilal, S.; Siddaiah, V.; Prasanna Rani, K.N.

    2017-01-01

    In the present study, the supercritical carbon dioxide (Co2) extraction of oil from Simarouba gluaca seeds was carried out at varying conditions of pressure (300–500 bar), temperature (50–70 °C) and CO2 flow rate (10–30 g·min-1). The extraction condition for maximum oil yield was obtained at 500 bar pressure, 70 °C and at 30 g·min-1 flow rate of CO2. The extracted oil was analyzed thoroughly for physico-chemical properties and compared with those of conventional solvent extracted oil. An interesting observation is a significant reduction in the phosphorus content of the oil (8.4 mg·kg-1) extracted using supercritical CO2 compared to the phosphorous content of the solvent extracted oil (97 mg·kg-1). Moreover, the content of total tocopherols in supercritically extracted oil (135.6 mg·kg-1) was found to be higher than the solvent extracted oil (111 mg·kg-1). The rest of the physico-chemical properties of the two differently extracted oils matched well with each other. The results indicated the possible benefits of supercritical CO2 extraction over solvent extraction of Simarouba gluaca seed oil. [es

  10. A comparative study of solvent and supercritical CO2 extraction of Simarouba gluaca seed oil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Anjaneyulu

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available In the present study, the supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2 extraction of oil from Simarouba gluaca seeds was carried out at varying conditions of pressure (300–500 bar, temperature (50–70 °C and CO2 flow rate (10–30 g·min-1. The extraction condition for maximum oil yield was obtained at 500 bar pressure, 70 °C and at 30 g·min-1 flow rate of CO2. The extracted oil was analyzed thoroughly for physico-chemical properties and compared with those of conventional solvent extracted oil. An interesting observation is a significant reduction in the phosphorus content of the oil (8.4 mg·kg-1 extracted using supercritical CO2 compared to the phosphorous content of the solvent extracted oil (97 mg·kg-1. Moreover, the content of total tocopherols in supercritically extracted oil (135.6 mg·kg-1 was found to be higher than the solvent extracted oil (111 mg·kg-1. The rest of the physico-chemical properties of the two differently extracted oils matched well with each other. The results indicated the possible benefits of supercritical CO2 extraction over solvent extraction of Simarouba gluaca seed oil.

  11. Flow visualization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weinstein, L.M.

    1991-01-01

    Flow visualization techniques are reviewed, with particular attention given to those applicable to liquid helium flows. Three techniques capable of obtaining qualitative and quantitative measurements of complex 3D flow fields are discussed including focusing schlieren, particle image volocimetry, and holocinematography (HCV). It is concluded that the HCV appears to be uniquely capable of obtaining full time-varying, 3D velocity field data, but is limited to the low speeds typical of liquid helium facilities. 8 refs

  12. Helium transport and exhaust studies in enhanced confinement regimes in DIII-D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wade, M.R.; Hillis, D.L.; Hogan, J.T.; Mahdavi, M.A.; Maingi, R.; West, W.P.; Burrell, K.H.; Finkenthal, D.F.; Gohil, P.; Groebner, R.J.

    1995-02-01

    A better understanding of helium transport in the plasma core and edge in enhanced confinement regimes is now emerging from recent experimental studies on DIII-D. Overall, the results are encouraging. Significant helium exhaust (τ* He /τ E ∼ 11) has been obtained in a diverted, ELMing H-mode plasma simultaneous with a central source of helium. Detailed analysis of the helium profile evolution indicates that the exhaust rate is limited by the exhaust efficiency of the pump (∼5%) and not by the intrinsic helium transport properties of the plasma. Perturbative helium transport studies using gas puffing have shown that D He /X eff ∼1 in all confinement regimes studied to date (including H-mode and VH-mode). Furthermore, there is no evidence of preferential accumulation of helium in any of these regimes. However, measurements in the core and pumping plenum show a significant dilution of helium as it flows from the plasma core to the pumping plenum. Such dilution could be the limiting factor in the overall removal rate of helium in a reactor system

  13. Use of helium in uranium exploration, Grants district

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeVoto, R.H.; Mead, R.H.; Martin, J.P.; Bergquist, L.E.

    1980-01-01

    The continuous generation of inert helium gas from uranium and its daughter products provides a potentially useful means for remote detection of uranium deposits. The practicality of conducting helium surveys in the atmosphere, soil gas, and ground water to explore for buried uranium deposits has been tested in the Grants district and in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. No detectable helium anomalies related to buried or surface uranium deposits were found in the atmosphere. However, reproducible helium-in-soil-gas anomalies were detected spatially related to uranium deposits buried from 50 to 800 ft deep. Diurnal and atmospheric effects can cause helium content variations (noise) in soil gas that are as great as the anomalies observed from instantaneous soil-gas samples. Cumulative soil-gas helium analyses, such as those obtained from collecting undisturbed soil samples and degassing them in the laboratory, may reveal anomalies from 5 to 100 percent above background. Ground water samples from the Grants district, New Mexico, and the Powder River Basin, Wyoming, have distinctly anomalous helium values spatially related to buried uranium deposits. In the southern Powder River Basin, helium values 20 to 200 percent above background occur 2 to 18 mile down the ground-water flow path from known uranium roll-front deposits. In the Grants district, helium contents 40 to 700 percent above background levels are present in ground waters from the host sandstone in the vicinity of uranium deposits and from aquifers up to 3,000 ft stratigraphically above the deep uranium deposits. The use of helium in soil and ground-water surveys, along with uranium and radon analyses of the same materials, is strongly recommended is expensive, deep, uranium-exploration programs such as those being conducted in the Grants district

  14. Characterization of high flux magnetized helium plasma in SCU-PSI linear device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiaochun, MA; Xiaogang, CAO; Lei, HAN; Zhiyan, ZHANG; Jianjun, WEI; Fujun, GOU

    2018-02-01

    A high-flux linear plasma device in Sichuan University plasma-surface interaction (SCU-PSI) based on a cascaded arc source has been established to simulate the interactions between helium and hydrogen plasma with the plasma-facing components in fusion reactors. In this paper, the helium plasma has been characterized by a double-pin Langmuir probe. The results show that the stable helium plasma beam with a diameter of 26 mm was constrained very well at a magnetic field strength of 0.3 T. The core density and ion flux of helium plasma have a strong dependence on the applied current, magnetic field strength and gas flow rate. It could reach an electron density of 1.2 × 1019 m-3 and helium ion flux of 3.2 × 1022 m-2 s-1, with a gas flow rate of 4 standard liter per minute, magnetic field strength of 0.2 T and input power of 11 kW. With the addition of -80 V applied to the target to increase the helium ion energy and the exposure time of 2 h, the flat top temperature reached about 530 °C. The different sizes of nanostructured fuzz on irradiated tungsten and molybdenum samples surfaces under the bombardment of helium ions were observed by scanning electron microscopy. These results measured in the SCU-PSI linear device provide a reference for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor related PSI research.

  15. Breakdown voltage at the electric terminals of GCFR-core flow test loop fuel rod simulators in helium and air

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huntley, W.R.; Conley, T.B.

    1979-12-01

    Tests were performed to determine the ac and dc breakdown voltage at the terminal ends of a fuel rod simulator (FRS) in helium and air atmospheres. The tests were performed at low pressures (1 to 2 atm) and at temperatures from 20 to 350 0 C (68 to 660 0 F). The area of concern was the 0.64-mm (0.025-in.) gap between the coaxial conductor of the FRS and the sheaths of the four internal thermocouples as they exit the FRS. The tests were prformed to ensure a sufficient safety margin during Core Flow Test Loop (CFTL) operations that require potentials up to 350 V ac at the FRS terminals. The primary conclusion from the test results is that the CFTL cannot be operated safely if the terminal ends of the FRSs are surrounded by a helium atmosphere but can be operated safely in air

  16. PFC Performance Improvement of Ultra-supercritical Secondary Reheat Unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Jun

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Ultra-supercritical secondary reheat unit has been widely used in the world because of its advantages of large capacity, low consumption and high efficiency etc., but rapid load change ability of the turbines to be weakened which caused by its system organization, cannot meet the requirements of power grid frequency modulation. Based on the analysis of the control characteristics of ultra-supercritical once-through reheat unit, the primary frequency control based on feed-water flow overshoot compensation is proposed. The main steam pressure generated by the feed-water is changed to improve the primary frequency control capability. The relevant control strategy has been applied to the 1000MW secondary reheating unit. The results show that the technology is feasible and has high economical efficiency.

  17. Supercritical fluid chromatography in drug analysis: a literature survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvador, A; Jaime, M A; Becerra, G; Guardia, M de L

    1996-08-01

    The applications of supercritical fluid chromatography to the analysis of drugs have been carefully revised from the literature compiled in the Analytical Abstracts until March 1994. Easy-to-read tables provide useful information about the state-of-the-art and possibilities offered by SFC in pharmaceutical analysis. The tables comprise extensive data about samples analyzed, pharmaceutical principles determined, solvents used and sample quantity injected, supercritical fluids and modifiers employed, injection system, instrumentation, experimental conditions for chromatographic separations (density, pressure, flow, temperature), characteristics of columns employed (type, support, length, diameter, particle film thickness, stationary phase), detectors, type of restrictors, and also some analytical features of the methods developed (such as retention time, resolution, sensitivity, limit of detection and relative standard deviation).

  18. A Technique for Dynamic Corrosion Testing in Supercritical CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loewen, Eric P.; Davis, Cliff B.; Shropshire, David E.; Weaver, Kevan

    2004-01-01

    An experimental apparatus for the investigation of the flow-assisted corrosion of potential fuel cladding and structural materials to be used on a fast reactor cooled by supercritical carbon dioxide has been designed. This experimental project is part of a larger research at the Department of Energy being lead by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) to investigate the suitability of supercritical carbon dioxide for cooling a fast reactor designed to produce low-cost electricity as well as for actinide burning. The INEEL once-through corrosion apparatus consists of two syringe pumps, a pre-heat furnace, a 1.3 meter long heated corrosion test section, and a gas measuring system. The gas flow rates, heat input, and operating pressure can be adjusted so that a controlled coolant flow rate, temperature, and oxygen potential are created within each of six test sections. The corrosion cell will test tubing that is commercially available in the U.S. and specialty coupons to temperatures up to 600 deg. C and a pressure of 20 MPa. The ATHENA computer code was used to estimate the fluid conditions in each of the six test sections during normal operation. (authors)

  19. Numerical modeling of supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Archana, V., E-mail: archanav@barc.gov.in [Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 094 (India); Vaidya, A.M., E-mail: avaidya@barc.gov.in [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 085 (India); Vijayan, P.K., E-mail: vijayanp@barc.gov.in [Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 085 (India)

    2015-11-15

    Highlights: • Supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop is modeled by in-house developed 1D and 2D axi-symmetric CFD codes. • Steady state characteristics of VHVC configuration of supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop are studied over a range of power. • Improved accuracy of predictions by 2D axi-symmetric formulation over 1D formulation is demonstrated. • The validity of correlations used in 1D model such as friction factor and heat transfer correlations is analyzed. • Simulation results shows normal, enhanced and deteriorated heat transfer regimes in supercritical CO{sub 2} natural circulation loop. - Abstract: The objective of this research project is to estimate steady state characteristics of supercritical natural circulation loop (SCNCL) using computational methodology and to compliment on-going experimental investigation of the same at the authors’ organization. For computational investigation, a couple of in-house codes are developed. At first, formulation and a corresponding computer program for the SCNCL based on conservation equations written in 1D framework is developed. Comparison of 1D code results with experimental data showed that, under some operating conditions, there is deviation between computed results and experimental data. To improve predictive capability, it was thought to model the SCNCL using conservation equations in 2D axi-symmetric framework. An existing 2D axi-symmetric code (named NAFA), which was developed and validated for supercritical fluid flow in pipes, is modified for natural circulation loop (NCL) geometry. The modified code, named NAFA-Loop, is subsequently used to compute the steady state characteristics of the SCNCL. These results are compared with experimental data. The steady state characteristics such as the variation of mass flow rate with power, velocity and temperature profiles in heater and cooler are studied using NAFA-Loop. The computed velocity and temperature fields show that the

  20. Forced two phase helium cooling of large superconducting magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Green, M.A.; Burns, W.A.; Taylor, J.D.

    1979-08-01

    A major problem shared by all large superconducting magnets is the cryogenic cooling system. Most large magnets are cooled by some variation of the helium bath. Helium bath cooling becomes more and more troublesome as the size of the magnet grows and as geometric constraints come into play. An alternative approach to cooling large magnet systems is the forced flow, two phase helium system. The advantages of two phase cooling in many magnet systems are shown. The design of a two phase helium system, with its control dewar, is presented. The paper discusses pressure drop of a two phase system, stability of a two phase system and the method of cool down of a two phase system. The results of experimental measurements at LBL are discussed. Included are the results of cool down and operation of superconducting solenoids

  1. Commercial helium reserves, continental rifting and volcanism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballentine, C. J.; Barry, P. H.; Hillegonds, D.; Fontijn, K.; Bluett, J.; Abraham-James, T.; Danabalan, D.; Gluyas, J.; Brennwald, M. S.; Pluess, B.; Seneshens, D.; Sherwood Lollar, B.

    2017-12-01

    Helium has many industrial applications, but notably provides the unique cooling medium for superconducting magnets in medical MRI scanners and high energy beam lines. In 2013 the global supply chainfailed to meet demand causing significant concern - the `Liquid Helium Crisis' [1]. The 2017 closure of Quatar borders, a major helium supplier, is likely to further disrupt helium supply, and accentuates the urgent need to diversify supply. Helium is found in very few natural gas reservoirs that have focused 4He produced by the dispersed decay (a-particle) of U and Th in the crust. We show here, using the example of the Rukwa section of the Tanzanian East African Rift, how continental rifting and local volcanism provides the combination of processes required to generate helium reserves. The ancient continental crust provides the source of 4He. Rifting and associated magmatism provides the tectonic and thermal mechanism to mobilise deep fluid circulation, focusing flow to the near surface along major basement faults. Helium-rich springs in the Tanzanian Great Rift Valley were first identified in the 1950's[2]. The isotopic compositions and major element chemistry of the gases from springs and seeps are consistent with their release from the crystalline basement during rifting [3]. Within the Rukwa Rift Valley, helium seeps occur in the vicinity of trapping structures that have the potential to store significant reserves of helium [3]. Soil gas surveys over 6 prospective trapping structures (1m depth, n=1486) show helium anomalies in 5 out of the 6 at levels similar to those observed over a known helium-rich gas reservoir at 1200m depth (7% He - Harley Dome, Utah). Detailed macroseep gas compositions collected over two days (n=17) at one site allows us to distinguish shallow gas contributions and shows the deep gas to contain between 8-10% helium, significantly increasing resource estimates based on uncorrected values (1.8-4.2%)[2,3]. The remainder of the deep gas is

  2. NOMAGE4 activities 2011. Part II, Supercritical water loop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vierstraete, P. (Ecole Nationale Superieure des mines, Paris (France)); Van Nieuwenhove, R. (Institutt for Energiteknikk, OECD Halden Reactor Project (HRP), Kjeller (Norway)); Lauritzen, B. (Technical Univ. of Denmark, Risoe National Lab. for Sustainable Energy, Roskilde (Denmark))

    2012-01-15

    The supercritical water reactor (SCWR) is one of the six different reactor technologies selected for research and development under the Generation IV program. Several countries have shown interest to this concept but up to now, there exist no in-pile facilities to perform the required material and fuel tests. Working on this direction, the Halden Reactor Project has started an activity in collaboration with Risoe-DTU (with Mr. Rudi Van Nieuwenhove as the project leader) to study the feasibility of a SCW loop in the Halden Reactor, which is a Heavy Boiling Water Reactor (HBWR). The ultimate goal of the project is to design a loop allowing material and fuel test studies at significant mass flow with in-core instrumentation and chemistry control possibilities. The present report focusses on the main heat exchanger required for such a loop in the Halden Reactor. The goal of this heat exchanger is to assure a supercritical flow state inside the test section (the core side) and a subcritical flow state inside the pump section. The objective is to design the heat exchanger in order to optimize the efficiency of the heat transfer and to respect several requirements as the room available inside the reactor hall, the maximal total pressure drop allowed and so on. (Author)

  3. A review of helium gas turbine technology for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    No, Hee Cheon; Kim, Ji Hwan; Kim, Hyeun Min

    2007-01-01

    Current High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) are based on a closed brayton cycle with helium gas as the working fluid. Thermodynamic performance of the axial-flow helium gas turbines is of critical concern as it considerably affects the overall cycle efficiency. Helium gas turbines pose some design challenges compared to steam or air turbomachinery because of the physical properties of helium and the uniqueness of the operating conditions at high pressure with low pressure ratio. This report present a review of the helium Brayton cycle experiences in Germany and in Japan. The design and availability of helium gas turbines for HTGR are also presented in this study. We have developed a new throughflow calculation code to calculate the design-point performance of helium gas turbines. Use of the method has been illustrated by applying it to the GTHTR300 reference

  4. Validation of helium inlet design for ITER toroidal field coil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyer, C.; Seo, K.; Hamada, K.; Foussat, A.; Le Rest, M.; Mitchell, N.; Decool, P.; Savary, F.; Sgobba, S.; Weiss, K.P.

    2014-01-01

    The ITER organization has performed design and its validation tests on a helium inlet structure for the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) coil under collaboration with CERN, KIT, and CEA Cadarache. Detailed structural analysis was performed in order to optimize the weld shape. A fatigue resistant design on the fillet weld between the shell covers and the jacket is an important point on the helium inlet structure. A weld filler material was selected based on tensile test at liquid helium temperature after Nb 3 Sn reaction heat treatment. To validate the design of the weld joint, fatigue tests at 7 K were performed using heat-treated butt weld samples. A pressure drop measurement of a helium inlet mock-up was performed by using nitrogen gas at room temperature in order to confirm uniform flow distribution and pressure drop characteristic. These tests have validated the helium inlet design. Based on the validation, Japanese and European Union domestic agencies, which have responsibilities of the TF coil procurement, are preparing the helium inlet mock-up for a qualification test. (authors)

  5. Enstrophy-based proper orthogonal decomposition of flow past rotating cylinder at super-critical rotating rate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sengupta, Tapan K.; Gullapalli, Atchyut

    2016-11-01

    Spinning cylinder rotating about its axis experiences a transverse force/lift, an account of this basic aerodynamic phenomenon is known as the Robins-Magnus effect in text books. Prandtl studied this flow by an inviscid irrotational model and postulated an upper limit of the lift experienced by the cylinder for a critical rotation rate. This non-dimensional rate is the ratio of oncoming free stream speed and the surface speed due to rotation. Prandtl predicted a maximum lift coefficient as CLmax = 4π for the critical rotation rate of two. In recent times, evidences show the violation of this upper limit, as in the experiments of Tokumaru and Dimotakis ["The lift of a cylinder executing rotary motions in a uniform flow," J. Fluid Mech. 255, 1-10 (1993)] and in the computed solution in Sengupta et al. ["Temporal flow instability for Magnus-robins effect at high rotation rates," J. Fluids Struct. 17, 941-953 (2003)]. In the latter reference, this was explained as the temporal instability affecting the flow at higher Reynolds number and rotation rates (>2). Here, we analyze the flow past a rotating cylinder at a super-critical rotation rate (=2.5) by the enstrophy-based proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of direct simulation results. POD identifies the most energetic modes and helps flow field reconstruction by reduced number of modes. One of the motivations for the present study is to explain the shedding of puffs of vortices at low Reynolds number (Re = 60), for the high rotation rate, due to an instability originating in the vicinity of the cylinder, using the computed Navier-Stokes equation (NSE) from t = 0 to t = 300 following an impulsive start. This instability is also explained through the disturbance mechanical energy equation, which has been established earlier in Sengupta et al. ["Temporal flow instability for Magnus-robins effect at high rotation rates," J. Fluids Struct. 17, 941-953 (2003)].

  6. Design of a supercritical water-cooled reactor. Pressure vessel and internals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fischer, Kai

    2008-08-15

    The High Performance Light Water Reactor (HPLWR) is a light water reactor with supercritical steam conditions which has been investigated within the 5th Framework Program of the European Commission. Due to the supercritical pressure of 25 MPa, water, used as moderator and as coolant, flows as a single phase through the core and can be directly fed to the turbine. Using the technology of coal fired power plants with supercritical steam conditions, the heat-up in the core is done in several steps to achieve the targeted high steam outlet temperature of 500.C without exceeding available cladding material limits. Based on a first design of a fuel assembly cluster for a HPLWR with a single pass core, the surrounding internals and the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) are dimensioned for the first time, following the safety standards of the nuclear safety standards commission in Germany. Furthermore, this design is extended to the incorporation of core arrangements with two and three passes. The design of the internals and the RPV are verified using mechanical or, in the case of large thermal deformations, combined mechanical and thermal stress analyses. Additionally, a passive safety component for the feedwater inlet of the RPV of the HPLWR is designed. Its purpose is the reduction of the mass flow rate in case of a LOCA for a feedwater line break until further steps are executed. Starting with a simple vortex diode, several steps are executed to enhance the performance of the diode and adapt it to this application. Then, this first design is further optimized using combined 1D and 3D flow analyses. Parametric studies determine the performance and characteristic for changing mass flow rates for this backflow limiter. (orig.)

  7. Modeling the pressure increase in liquid helium cryostats after failure of the insulating vacuum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heidt, C.; Grohmann, S. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Technical Physics, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Technical Thermodynamics and Refrigeration, Engler-Bunte (Germany); Süßer, M. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Technical Physics, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)

    2014-01-29

    The pressure relief system of liquid helium cryostats requires a careful design, due to helium's low enthalpy of vaporization and due to the low operating temperature. Hazard analyses often involve the failure of the insulating vacuum in the worst-case scenario. The venting of the insulating vacuum and the implications for the pressure increase in the helium vessel, however, have not yet been fully analyzed. Therefore, the dimensioning of safety devices often requires experience and reference to very few experimental data. In order to provide a better foundation for the design of cryogenic pressure relief systems, this paper presents an analytic approach for the strongly dynamic process induced by the loss of insulating vacuum. The model is based on theoretical considerations and on differential equation modeling. It contains only few simplifying assumptions, which will be further investigated in future experiments. The numerical solutions of example calculations are presented with regard to the heat flux into the helium vessel, the helium pressure increase and the helium flow rate through the pressure relief device. Implications concerning two-phase flow and the influence of kinetic energy are discussed.

  8. Intelligent gas-mixture flow sensor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lammerink, Theodorus S.J.; Dijkstra, Fred; Houkes, Z.; van Kuijk, J.C.C.; van Kuijk, Joost

    A simple way to realize a gas-mixture flow sensor is presented. The sensor is capable of measuring two parameters from a gas flow. Both the flow rate and the helium content of a helium-nitrogen gas mixture are measured. The sensor exploits two measurement principles in combination with (local)

  9. Supercritical-flow structures (backset-bedded sets and sediment waves) on high-gradient clinoform systems influenced by shallow-marine hydrodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massari, F.

    2017-10-01

    as coastal storms, seaward sediment entrainment, assisted by gravity, was very effective on the gently sloping subaqueous topset, and that, beyond the topset-foreset rollover, the flows evolved to high-concentration turbidity underflows with supercritical Froude numbers. The flows are inferred to have been sustained, probably lasting for the duration of the meteorological events, and to have commonly been unsteady in discharge, fluctuating in concentration and size of transported sediments, and subject to peaks in velocity. The characteristics of the structures are regarded as typical of the systems fed by oceanographic processes, and may fall into the class of coarse-grained ;small sediment waves with mixed relief; of Symons et al. (2016), formed from a combination of erosion and deposition, and by the action of stratified flows depositing from denser basal layers, and typically restricted to small-scale shallow-marine slope systems.

  10. Supercritical Water Reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouchter, J.C.; Dufour, P.; Guidez, J.; Latge, C.; Renault, C.; Rimpault, G.

    2014-01-01

    The supercritical water reactor (SCWR) is one of the 6 concepts selected for the 4. generation of nuclear reactors. SCWR is a new concept, it is an attempt to optimize boiling water reactors by using the main advantages of supercritical water: only liquid phase and a high calorific capacity. The SCWR requires very high temperatures (over 375 C degrees) and very high pressures (over 22.1 MPa) to operate which allows a high conversion yield (44% instead of 33% for a PWR). Low volumes of coolant are necessary which makes the neutron spectrum shift towards higher energies and it is then possible to consider fast reactors operating with supercritical water. The main drawbacks of supercritical water is the necessity to use very high pressures which has important constraints on the reactor design, its physical properties (density, calorific capacity) that vary strongly with temperatures and pressures and its very high corrosiveness. The feasibility of the concept is not yet assured in terms of adequate materials that resist to corrosion, reactor stability, reactor safety, and reactor behaviour in accidental situations. (A.C.)

  11. Artificial dissipation models applied to Euler equations for analysis of supersonic flow of helium gas around a geometric configurations ramp and diffusor type

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rocha, Jussiê S.; Maciel, Edisson Sávio de Góes; Lira, Carlos A.B.O.; Sousa, Pedro A.S.; Neto, Raimundo N.C.

    2017-01-01

    Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors - VHTGRs are studied by several research groups for the development of advanced reactors that can meet the world's growing energy demand. The analysis of the flow of helium coolant around the various geometries at the core of these reactors through computational fluid dynamics techniques is an essential tool in the development of conceptual designs of nuclear power plants that provide added security. This analysis suggests a close analogy with aeronautical cases widely studied using computational numerical techniques to solve systems of governing equations for the flow involved. The present work consists in using the DISSIPA2D E ULER code, to solve the Euler equations in a conservative form, in two-dimensional space employing a finite difference formulation for spatial discretization using the Euler method for explicit marching in time. The physical problem of supersonic flow along a ramp and diffusor configurations is considered. For this, the Jameson and Mavriplis algorithm and the artificial dissipation model linear of Pulliam was implemented. A spatially variable time step is employed aiming to accelerate the convergence to the steady state solution. The main purpose of this work is obtain computational tools for flow analysis through the study the cited dissipation model and describe their characteristics in relation to the overall quality of the solution, as well as obtain preliminary results for the development of computational tools of dynamic analysis of helium gas flow in gas-cooled reactors. (author)

  12. Artificial dissipation models applied to Euler equations for analysis of supersonic flow of helium gas around a geometric configurations ramp and diffusor type

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rocha, Jussiê S., E-mail: jussie.soares@ifpi.edu.br [Instituto Federal do Piauí (IFPI), Valença, PI (Brazil); Maciel, Edisson Sávio de Góes, E-mail: edissonsavio@yahoo.com.br [Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Lira, Carlos A.B.O., E-mail: cabol@ufpe.edu.br [Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil); Sousa, Pedro A.S.; Neto, Raimundo N.C., E-mail: augusto.96pedro@gmail.com, E-mail: r.correia17@hotmail.com [Instituto Federal do Piauí (IFPI), Teresina, PI (Brazil)

    2017-07-01

    Very High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors - VHTGRs are studied by several research groups for the development of advanced reactors that can meet the world's growing energy demand. The analysis of the flow of helium coolant around the various geometries at the core of these reactors through computational fluid dynamics techniques is an essential tool in the development of conceptual designs of nuclear power plants that provide added security. This analysis suggests a close analogy with aeronautical cases widely studied using computational numerical techniques to solve systems of governing equations for the flow involved. The present work consists in using the DISSIPA2D{sub E}ULER code, to solve the Euler equations in a conservative form, in two-dimensional space employing a finite difference formulation for spatial discretization using the Euler method for explicit marching in time. The physical problem of supersonic flow along a ramp and diffusor configurations is considered. For this, the Jameson and Mavriplis algorithm and the artificial dissipation model linear of Pulliam was implemented. A spatially variable time step is employed aiming to accelerate the convergence to the steady state solution. The main purpose of this work is obtain computational tools for flow analysis through the study the cited dissipation model and describe their characteristics in relation to the overall quality of the solution, as well as obtain preliminary results for the development of computational tools of dynamic analysis of helium gas flow in gas-cooled reactors. (author)

  13. Study on Trailing Edge Ramp of Supercritical Airfoil

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-30

    China Abstract Trailing edge flow control method could improve the performance of supercritical airfoil with a small modification on the original...stall behaviour . As a result, the non-separation ramp could increase the thickness of airfoil, which benefits wing structure and aerodynamic...direction based on the original RAE2822 airfoil, which will thicken the airfoil. The interpolation is implemented as shown in Eqn. 1. This modification could

  14. An optimum cold end configuration for helium liquefaction cycles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Minta, M.; Smith, J.L.

    1984-01-01

    This chapter examines the effect of the non-ideal behavior of helium at low temperature on the performance of helium liquefaction cycles. The effect is isolated by means of a continuum model for the precooling stage. The cold end losses are due primarily to the composite effect of the non-ideality of helium at low temperatures and the heat exchanger losses, in addition to the component losses fixed by the expander/compressor efficiencies. Topics considered include continuously distributed full-pressure ratio expanders, continuously distributed full-flow expanders, the heat exchange effect (ideal gas working fluid, real gas working fluid), and cold end configuration. The cold end configuration minimizes the cycle cold end losses

  15. Stability analysis of supercritical-pressure light water-cooled reactor in constant pressure operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suhwan, JI; Shirahama, H.; Koshizuka, S.; Oka, Y.

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the thermal-hydraulic and the thermal-nuclear coupled stabilities of a supercritical pressure light water-cooled reactor. A stability analysis code at supercritical pressure is developed. Using this code, stabilities of full and partial-power reactor operating at supercritical pressure are investigated by the frequency-domain analysis. Two types of SCRs are analyzed; a supercritical light water reactor (SCLWR) and a supercritical water-cooled fast reactor (SCFR). The same stability criteria as Boiling Water Reactor are applied. The thermal-hydraulic stability of SCLWR and SCFR satisfies the criteria with a reasonable orifice loss coefficient. The decay ratio of the thermal-nuclear coupled stability in SCFR is almost zero because of a small coolant density coefficient of the fast reactor. The evaluated decay ratio of the thermal-nuclear coupled stability is 3,41 ∼ 10 -V at 100% power in SCFR and 0,028 at 100% power in SCLWR. The sensitivity is investigated. It is found that the thermal-hydraulic stability is sensitive to the mass flow rate strongly and the thermal-nuclear coupled stability to the coolant density coefficient. The bottom power peak distribution makes the thermal-nuclear stability worse and the thermal-nuclear stability better. (author)

  16. Extraction of aucubin from seeds of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. using supercritical carbon dioxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Hui; Hu, Jiangyu; Ouyang, Hui; Li, Yanan; Shi, Hui; Ma, Chengjin; Zhang, Yongkang

    2009-01-01

    Supercritical CO2 was used as solvent for the extraction of aucubin from the seeds of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. The co-solvent composition was tested and extraction conditions were optimized. Results showed that the best co-solvent was a water-ethanol mixture (1 + 3, v/v), and the highest yield was obtained when the extraction was performed under 26 MPa at extraction and separation temperatures of 55 and 30 degrees C for 120 min, using 6 mL co-solvent/g material at a CO2 flow rate of 20 L/h. In a comparison of the supercritical CO2 and Soxhlet extraction methods, the Soxhlet method needed 3 h to extract 10 g material, whereas the supercritical CO2 extraction technique needed only 2 h to extract 100 g material, thus showing a high extraction capability. The supercritical CO2 extraction produced a higher yield, with a lower cost for the extraction. Owing to the advantages of low extraction temperature, high yield, and ease of separating the product from the solvent, supercritical CO2 extraction is likely to be developed into an ideal technique for the extraction of aucubin, a compound with thermal instability, from the seeds of this plant.

  17. CFD Analyses on LHe Cooling for SCQ Magnets in BEPCII Upgrade

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Z.H.; Wang, L.; Tang, H.M.; Zhang, X.B.; Jia, L.X.

    2004-01-01

    A pair of superconducting interaction region quadrupole magnets in Beijing Electron-Positron Collider Upgrade (BEPCII) are to be cooled by supercritical helium in order to eliminate the flow instabilities in the constrained cooling channels. The fluid flow is simulated by the commercial computational dynamics fluid software. The heat loads to the superconducting quadrupole (SCQ) magnets from the radiation shields at 80 K and from the thermal conduction of mechanical supports are considered. The temperature distribution of the fluid in the liquid helium cooling channels, and the heat transfer in the SCQ magnet and by its supports are presented. The influence of mass flow rate on pressure drop in the cooling passage is analyzed

  18. CFD ANALYSES ON THE COOLING FOR SCQ MAGNETS IN BEPC II UPGRADE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    HE, Z.H.; WANG, L.; TANK, H.M.; ZHANG, X.B.; JIA, L.X.

    2003-01-01

    A pair of superconducting interaction region quadrupole magnets in Beijing Electron-Positron Collider Upgrade (BEPCII) are to be cooled by supercritical helium in order to eliminate the flow instabilities in the constrained cooling channels. The fluid flow is simulated by the commercial computational dynamics fluid software. The heat loads to the superconducting quadrupole (SCQ) magnets from the radiation shields at 80 K and from the thermal conduction of mechanical supports are considered. The temperature distribution of the fluid in the liquid helium cooling channels, and the heat transfer in the SCQ magnet and by its supports are presented. The influence of mass flow rate on pressure drop in the cooling passage is analyzed

  19. Experiments in a natural circulation loop with supercritical water at low powers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pilkhwal, D.S.; Sharma, Manish; Jana, S.S.; Vijayan, P.K.

    2013-05-01

    Earlier, 1/2 ″ uniform diameter Supercritical Pressure Natural Circulation Loop (SPNL) was set-up in hall-7, BARC for carrying out experiments related to supercritical fluids. The loop is a rectangular loop having two heaters and two coolers. Experiments were carried out with CO 2 under supercritical conditions for various pressures and different combinations of heater and cooler orientations. Since, the design conditions are more severe for supercritical water (SCW) experiments, the loop was modified for SCW by installing new test sections, pressurizer and power supply for operation with supercritical water. Experimental data were generated on steady state, heat transfer and stability under natural circulation conditions for the horizontal heater and horizontal cooler (HHHC) orientation with SCW up to a heater power of 8.5 kW. The flow rate data and instability data were compared with the predictions of in-house developed 1-D code NOLSTA, which showed reasonable agreement. The heat transfer coefficient data were also compared with the predictions of various correlations exhibit peak at bulk temperature lower than that obtained in the experiments. Most of these correlations predicted experimental data well in the pseudo-critical region. However, all correlations are matching well with experimental data beyond the pseudo-critical region. The details of the experimental facility, Experiments carried out and the results presented in this report. (author)

  20. Validation of Helium Inlet Design for ITER Toroidal Field Coil

    CERN Document Server

    Boyer, C; Hamada, K; Foussat, A; Le Rest, M; Mitchell, N; Decool, P; Savary, F; Sgobba, S; Weiss, K-P

    2014-01-01

    The ITER organization has performed design and its validation tests on a helium inlet structure for the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) coil under collaboration with CERN, KIT, and CEA-Cadarache. Detailed structural analysis was performed in order to optimize the weld shape. A fatigue resistant design on the fillet weld between the shell covers and the jacket is an important point on the helium inlet structure. A weld filler material was selected based on tensile test at liquid helium temperature after Nb$_{3}$Sn reaction heat treatment. To validate the design of the weld joint, fatigue tests at 7 K were performed using heat-treated butt weld samples. A pressure drop measurement of a helium inlet mock-up was performed by using nitrogen gas at room temperature in order to confirm uniform flow distribution and pressure drop characteristic. These tests have validated the helium inlet design. Based on the validation, Japanese and European Union domestic agencies, which have responsibilities of the TF coil procurement, a...

  1. Spectroscopic measurement of the electric field in a helium plasma jet

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofmans, M.; Sobota, A.

    2017-01-01

    The electric field in a plasma jet is measured spectroscopically utilizing the Stark-effect. A cold atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet is used, which operates at a μs-pulsed applied voltage of 6 kV, a frequency of 5 kHz and with a helium flow of 1.5 slm. Due to the electric field in the jet, the

  2. Supercritical waste oxidation pump investigation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thurston, G.; Garcia, K.

    1993-02-01

    This report investigates the pumping techniques and pumping equipment that would be appropriate for a 5,000 gallon per day supercritical water oxidation waste disposal facility. The pumps must boost water, waste, and additives from atmospheric pressure to approximately 27.6 MPa (4,000 psia). The required flow ranges from 10 gpm to less than 0.1 gpm. For the higher flows, many commercial piston pumps are available. These pumps have packing and check-valves that will require periodic maintenance; probably at 2 to 6 month intervals. Several commercial diaphragm pumps were also discovered that could pump the higher flow rates. Diaphragm pumps have the advantage of not requiring dynamic seals. For the lower flows associated with the waste and additive materials, commercial diaphragm pumps. are available. Difficult to pump materials that are sticky, radioactive, or contain solids, could be injected with an accumulator using an inert gas as the driving mechanism. The information presented in this report serves as a spring board for trade studies and the development of equipment specifications

  3. Supercritical fluids processing: emerging opportunities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovaly, K.A.

    1985-01-01

    This publication on the emerging opportunities of supercritical fluids processing reveals the latest research findings and development trends in this field. These findings and development trends are highlighted, and the results of applications of technology to the business of supercritical fluids are reported. Applications of supercritical fluids to chemical intermediates, environmental applications, chemical reactions, food and biochemistry processing, and fuels processing are discussed in some detail

  4. Supercritical extraction of carqueja essential oil: experiments and modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. M. F. Vargas

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Baccharis trimera is a native Brazilian plant which has medicinal properties. In this work a method of supercritical extraction was studied to obtain the popularly essential oil from Baccharis trimera, known as carqueja. The aim was to obtain experimental data and to compare two mathematical models used in the simulation of carqueja (Baccharis trimera oil extraction by supercritical CO2. The two mathematical models are based on mass transfer. One of the models, proposed by Reverchon, is solved numerically and requires two adjustable parameters from the experimental data. The other model chosen is the one proposed by Sovová. This model is solved analytically and requires four adjustable parameters. Numerical results are presented and discussed for the adjusted parameters. The experimental results are obtained in a temperature range of 313.15 K to 343.15 K at 90 bar. The extraction yield of carqueja essential oil using supercritical carbon dioxide ranged between 1.72 % (w/w at 323.15 K and 2.34 % (w/w at 343.15 K, 90 bar with a CO2 flow rate of 3.34.10-8 m³/s for a 0.0015 kg sample of Baccharis trimera.

  5. Experimental investigation of heat transfer for supercritical pressure water flowing in vertical annular channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gang Wu; Bi Qincheng; Yang Zhendong; Wang Han; Zhu Xiaojing; Hao Hou; Leung, L.K.H.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Two annular test sections were constructed with annular gaps of 4 and 6 mm. → Two heat transfer regions have been observed: normal and deteriorated heat transfer. → The spacer enhances the heat transfer at downstream locations. → The Jackson correlation agrees quite closely with the experimental data. - Abstract: An experiment has recently been completed at Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) to obtain wall-temperature measurements at supercritical pressures with upward flow of water inside vertical annuli. Two annular test sections were constructed with annular gaps of 4 and 6 mm, respectively, and an internal heater of 8 mm outer diameter. Experimental-parameter ranges covered pressures of 23-28 MPa, mass fluxes of 350-1000 kg/m 2 /s, heat fluxes of 200-1000 kW/m 2 , and bulk inlet temperatures up to 400 deg. C. Depending on the flow conditions and heat fluxes, two distinctive heat transfer regimes, referring to as the normal heat transfer and deteriorated heat transfer, have been observed. At similar flow conditions, the heat transfer coefficients for the 6 mm gap annular channel are larger than those for the 4 mm gap annular channel. A strong effect of spiral spacer on heat transfer has been observed with a drastic reduction in wall temperature at locations downstream of the device in the annuli. Two tube-data-based correlations have been assessed against the experimental heat transfer results. The Jackson correlation agrees with the experimental trends and overpredicts slightly the heat transfer coefficients. The Dittus-Boelter correlation is applicable only for the normal heat transfer region but not for the deteriorated heat transfer region.

  6. Hot helium flow test facility summary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-06-01

    This report summarizes the results of a study conducted to assess the feasibility and cost of modifying an existing circulator test facility (CTF) at General Atomic Company (GA). The CTF originally was built to test the Delmarva Power and Light Co. steam-driven circulator. This circulator, as modified, could provide a source of hot, pressurized helium for high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) and gas-cooled fast breeder reactor (GCFR) component testing. To achieve this purpose, a high-temperature impeller would be installed on the existing machine. The projected range of tests which could be conducted for the project is also presented, along with corresponding cost considerations

  7. Impact of process parameters and design options on heat leaks of straight cryogenic distribution lines

    CERN Document Server

    Duda, Pawel; Chorowski, Maciej Pawel; Polinski, J

    2017-01-01

    The Future Circular Collider (FCC) accelerator will require a helium distribution system that will exceed the presently exploited transfer lines by almost 1 order of magnitude. The helium transfer line will contain five process pipes protected against heat leaks by a common thermal shield. The design pressure of the FCC process pipe with supercritical helium will be equal to 5.0 MPa, significantly exceeding the 2.0 MPa value in the present, state-of–art transfer lines. The increase of the design pressure requires construction changes to be introduced to the support system, the vacuum barriers and the compensation bellows. This will influence heat flows to the helium. The paper analyses the impact of the increased design pressure on the heat flow. The paper also offers a discussion of the design modifications to the compensation system, including the replacement of stainless steel with Invar—aimed at mitigating the pressure increase.

  8. Electrochemistry in supercritical fluids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branch, Jack A.; Bartlett, Philip N.

    2015-01-01

    A wide range of supercritical fluids (SCFs) have been studied as solvents for electrochemistry with carbon dioxide and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) being the most extensively studied. Recent advances have shown that it is possible to get well-resolved voltammetry in SCFs by suitable choice of the conditions and the electrolyte. In this review, we discuss the voltammetry obtained in these systems, studies of the double-layer capacitance, work on the electrodeposition of metals into high aspect ratio nanopores and the use of metallocenes as redox probes and standards in both supercritical carbon dioxide–acetonitrile and supercritical HFCs. PMID:26574527

  9. Reverse convection in helium and other fluids in the high speed rotating frame: negative and positive buoyancy effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Igra, R.; Scurlock, R.G.; Wu, Y.Y.

    1986-01-01

    Experimental studies of thermo-syphon flows in radial tubes and loops between the axis and the periphery of a rotating helium cryostat have shown that when heat is supplied at an intermediate radius, the heat is carried radially inwards as A flow and radially outwards as B flow. The results with helium suggest that while the steady state patterns of the A and B flows are complex, the heat is divided approximately equally between the conventional A flow and the reverse B flow. A model of convective heating in the rotating frame is presented and two necessary conditions for reverse convection are identified and discussed. The model predicts reverse convection in liquid nitrogen and this is confirmed by experimental measurement. An array of radial ducts is proposed for the cooling of a superconducting AC generator in order to counter the effects of reverse convection in the helium refrigerant

  10. Study on specifics of thermophysical properties of supercritical fluids in power engineering applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mann, David; Pioro, Igor

    2015-01-01

    SuperCritical Pressures (SCPs) and SuperCritical Fluids (SFCs) are widely used in many industries worldwide. The largest application of SCPs is in the power industry in advanced coal-fired power plants. It is well-known that moving from subcritical-pressure power plants to SCP power plants increases gross thermal efficiency from 38-42% to about 50-55%. Despite all advances in thermal power-plants design and operation worldwide, they are still considered as not “environmentally friendly” due to significant carbon-dioxide emissions and air pollution as a result of the combustion process. In addition, coal-fired power-plants also produce virtual mountains of slag and ash, and other gas emissions that may contribute to acid rains. Therefore, the demand for clean, non-fossil-based electricity is growing. Due to this, nuclear power is considered as a basis for future electricity generation in the world. One of the major problems with current fleet of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) is their relatively low thermal efficiencies, especially, of water-cooled-reactor NPPs (the vast majority of NPPs) (30-36%), compared to those of advanced thermal power plants (55-62%). Based on that, next generation or Generation-IV reactors corresponding to those NPPs should definitely be more efficient. Higher level of thermal efficiencies can be reached only due to higher temperatures and, in some cases, higher pressures inside reactors and, especially, in power cycles of Generation-IV NPPs. Analysis of the six concepts of Generation-IV reactors and NPPs shows that three reactor concepts will use SCFs as reactor coolants (helium and water) and all concepts can be linked to SCFs as working fluids in power cycles (SC helium and /or carbon dioxide in the Brayton gas-turbine cycle, and SC water in the Rankine steam-turbine cycle). Therefore, the exact knowledge of specifics of thermophysical properties of SC helium, water and carbon dioxide is very important for any advances in these new

  11. Experimental and numerical investigation of heat transfer from a narrow annulus to supercritical pressure water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Han; Bi, Qincheng; Yang, Zhendong; Wang, Linchuan

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Heat transfer of supercritical water in a narrow annulus is investigated. • Effects of system parameters and flow direction on heat transfer are studied. • Deteriorated heat transfer is analyzed both experimentally and numerically. - Abstract: Heat transfer characteristics of supercritical pressure water in a narrow annulus with vertically upward and downward flows were investigated experimentally and numerically. The outer diameter of the inner heated rod is 8 mm with an effective heated length of 620 mm. Experimental parameters covered the pressure of 23–28 MPa, mass flux of 400–1000 kg/m 2 s and heat flux on the outer surface of the heated rod from 200 to 1000 kW/m 2 . The general heat transfer behaviors were discussed with respect to various mass fluxes and pressures. According to the experimental data, it was found that the effect of flow direction on heat transfer depends on the heat-flux to mass-flux ratio (q/G). Heat transfer is much improved in the downward flow compared to that of upward flow at high q/G ratios. At the pressure of 25 MPa, low-mass-flux deteriorated heat transfer occurred in the upward flow but not in the downward flow. At the same test parameters, however, heat transfer deterioration was observed at both of the two flow directions when the pressure was lowered to 23 MPa. The experimental results indicate that buoyancy plays an important role for this type of deterioration, but is not the only mechanism that leads to the heat transfer deterioration. Three turbulence models were assessed against the annulus test data, it was found that the SST k-ω model gives a satisfying prediction of heat transfer deterioration especially for the case of downward flow. The mechanisms for the low-mass-flow heat transfer deterioration were investigated from the viewpoints of buoyancy and property variations of the supercritical water

  12. Heat Transfer Characteristics for an Upward Flowing Supercritical Pressure CO2 in a Vertical Annulus Passage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Deog Ji; Kim, Sin; Kim, Hwan Yeol; Bae, Yoon Yeong

    2007-01-01

    Heat transfer experiments at a vertical annulus passage were carried out in the SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt Generation) to investigate the heat transfer behaviors of supercritical CO 2 . The collected test data are to be used for the reactor core design of the SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor). The mass flux was in the range of 400 ∼1200 kg/m 2 s and the heat flux was chosen up to 150 kW/m 2 . The selected pressures were 7.75 and 8.12 MPa. The heat transfer data were analyzed and compared with the previous tube test data. The test results showed that the heat transfer characteristics were similar to those of the tube in case of a normal heat transfer mode and degree of heat transfer deterioration became smaller than that in the tube. Comparison of the experimental heat transfer coefficients with the predicted ones by the existing correlations showed that there was not a distinct difference between the correlations

  13. Helium compressor aerodynamic design considerations for MHTGR circulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, C.F.

    1988-01-01

    Compressor aerodynamic design considerations for both the main and shutdown cooling circulators in the Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) plant are addressed in this paper. A major selection topic relates to the impeller type (i.e., axial or radial flow), and the aerothermal studies leading to the selection of optimum parameters are discussed. For the conceptual designs of the main and shutdown cooling circulators, compressor blading geometries were established and helium gas flow paths defined. Both circulators are conservative by industrial standards in terms of aerodynamic and structural loading, and the blade tip speeds are particularly modest. Performance characteristics are presented, and the designs embody margin to ensure that pressure-rise growth potential can be accomodated should the circuit resistance possibly increase as the plant design advances. The axial flow impeller for the main circulator is very similar to the Fort St. Vrain (FSV) helium compressor which performs well. A significant technology base exists for the MHTGR plant circulators, and this is highlighted in the paper. (author). 15 refs, 16 figs, 12 tabs

  14. Helium refrigeration system for BNL colliding beam accelerator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, D.P.; Farah, Y.; Gibbs, R.J.; Schlafke, A.P.; Schneider, W.J.; Sondericker, J.H.; Wu, K.C.

    1983-01-01

    A Helium Refrigeration System which will supply the cooling required for the Colliding Beam Accelerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory is under construction. Testing of the compressor system is scheduled for late 1983 and will be followed by refrigerator acceptance tests in 1984. The refrigerator has a design capacity of 24.8 kW at a temperature level near 4K while simultaneously producing 55 kW for heat shield loads at 55K. When completed, the helium refrigerator will be the world's largest. Twenty-five oil-injected screw compressors with an installed total of 23,250 horsepower will supply the gas required. One of the unique features of the cycle is the application of three centrifugal compressors used at liquid helium temperature to produce the low temperatures (2.5K) and high flow rates (4154 g/s) required for this service

  15. Reactive turbulent flow CFD study in supercritical water oxidation process: application to a stirred double shell reactor; Etude par simulation numerique des ecoulements turbulents reactifs dans les reacteurs d'oxydation hydrothermale: application a un reacteur agite double enveloppe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moussiere, S

    2006-12-15

    Supercritical water oxidation is an innovative process to treat organic liquid waste which uses supercritical water properties to mix efficiency the oxidant and the organic compounds. The reactor is a stirred double shell reactor. In the step of adaptation to nuclear constraints, the computational fluid dynamic modeling is a good tool to know required temperature field in the reactor for safety analysis. Firstly, the CFD modeling of tubular reactor confirms the hypothesis of an incompressible fluid and the use of k-w turbulence model to represent the hydrodynamic. Moreover, the EDC model is as efficiency as the kinetic to compute the reaction rate in this reactor. Secondly, the study of turbulent flow in the double shell reactor confirms the use of 2D axisymmetric geometry instead of 3D geometry to compute heat transfer. Moreover, this study reports that water-air mixing is not in single phase. The reactive turbulent flow is well represented by EDC model after adaptation of initial conditions. The reaction rate in supercritical water oxidation reactor is mainly controlled by the mixing. (author)

  16. Theoretical and experimental studies on transient heat transfer for forced convection flow of helium gas over a horizontal cylinder

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Qiusheng; Katsuya Fukuda; Zhang Zheng

    2005-01-01

    Forced convection transient heat transfer for helium gas at various periods of exponential increase of heat input to a horizontal cylinder (heater) was theoretically and experimentally studied. In the theoretical study, transient heat transfer was numerically solved based on a turbulent flow model. It was clarified that the surface superheat and heat flux increase exponentially as the heat generation rate increases with the exponential function. The temperature distribution near the cylinder becomes larger as the surface temperature increases. The values of numerical solution for surface temperature and heat flux agree well with the experimental data for the cylinder diameter of 1 mm. However, the heat flux shows difference from the experimental values for the cylinder diameters of 0.7 mm and 2.0 mm. In the experimental studies, the authors measured heat flux, surface temperature, and transient heat transfer coefficients for forced convection flow of helium gas over horizontal cylinders under wide experimental conditions. The platinum cylinders with diameters of 1.0 mm, 0.7 mm, and 2.0 mm were used as test heaters and heated by electric current with an exponential increase of Q 0exp (t/τ) . The gas flow velocities ranged from 2 to 10 m/s, the gas temperatures ranged from 303 to 353 K, and the periods ranged from 50 ms to 20 s. It was clarified that the heat transfer coefficient approaches the quasi-steady-state one for the period τ longer than about 1 s, and it becomes higher for the period shorter than around 1 s. The transient heat transfer shows less dependence on the gas flowing velocity when the period becomes very shorter. The heat transfer shifts to the quasi-steady-state heat transfer for longer periods and shifts to the transient heat transfer for shorter periods at the same flow velocity. It also approaches the quasi-steady-state one for higher flow velocity at the same period. The transient heat transfer coefficients show significant dependence on

  17. Three electrode atmospheric pressure plasma jet in helium flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maletic, Dejan; Puac, Nevena; Malovic, Gordana; Petrovic, Zoran Lj.

    2015-09-01

    Plasma jets are widely used in various types of applications and lately more and more in the field of plasma medicine. However, it is not only their applicability that distinguishes them from other atmospheric plasma sources, but also the behavior of the plasma. It was shown that plasma plume is not continuous, but discrete set of plasma packages. Here we present iCCD images and current voltage characteristics of a three electrode plasma jet. Our plasma jet has a simple design with body made of glass tube and two transparent electrodes wrapped around it. The additional third metal tip electrode was positioned at 10 and 25 mm in front of the jet nozzle and connected to the same potential as the powered electrode. Power transmitted to the plasma was from 0.5 W to 4.0 W and the helium flow rate was kept constant at 4 slm. For the 10 mm configuration plasma is ignited on the metal tip in the whole period of the excitation signal and in the positive half cycle plasma ``bullet'' is propagating beyond the metal tip. In contrast to that, for the 25 mm configuration at the tip electrode plasma can be seen only in the minimum and maximum of the excitation signal, and there is no plasma ``bullet'' formation. This research has been supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, under projects ON171037 and III41011.

  18. A heat exchanger between forced flow helium gas at 14 to 18 K and liquid hydrogen at 20 K circulated by natural convection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Green, M.A.; Ishimoto, S.; Lau, W.; Yang, S.

    2003-01-01

    The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) has three 350-mm long liquid hydrogen absorbers to reduce the momentum of 200 MeV muons in all directions. The muons are then re-accelerated in the longitudinal direction by 200 MHz RF cavities. The result is cooled muons with a reduced emittance. The energy from the muons is taken up by the liquid hydrogen in the absorber. The hydrogen in the MICE absorbers is cooled by natural convection to the walls of the absorber that are in turn cooled by helium gas that enters at 14 K. This report describes the MICE liquid hydrogen absorber and the heat exchanger between the liquid hydrogen and the helium gas that flows through passages in the absorber wall

  19. Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor Materials Program. Reducing helium impurity depletion in HTGR materials testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldwin, D.H.

    1984-08-01

    Moisture depletion in HTGR materials testing rigs has been empirically studied in the GE High Temperature Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory (HTRMTL). Tests have shown that increased helium flow rates and reduction in reactive (oxidizable) surface area are effective means of reducing depletion. Further, a portion of the depletion has been shown to be due to the presence of free C released by the dissociation of CH 4 . This depletion component can be reduced by reducing the helium residence time (increasing the helium flow rate) or by reducing the CH 4 concentration in the test gas. Equipment modifications to reduce depletion have been developed, tested, and in most cases implemented in the HTRMTL to date. These include increasing the Helium Loop No. 1 pumping capacity, conversion of metallic retorts and radiation shields to alumina, isolation of thermocouple probes from the test gas by alumina thermowells, and substitution of non-reactive Mo-TZM for reactive metallic structural components

  20. Exergy analysis of helium liquefaction systems based on modified Claude cycle with two-expanders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Rijo Jacob; Ghosh, Parthasarathi; Chowdhury, Kanchan

    2011-06-01

    Large-scale helium liquefaction systems, being energy-intensive, demand judicious selection of process parameters. An effective tool for design and analysis of thermodynamic cycles for these systems is exergy analysis, which is used to study the behavior of a helium liquefaction system based on modified Claude cycle. Parametric evaluation using process simulator Aspen HYSYS® helps to identify the effects of cycle pressure ratio and expander flow fraction on the exergetic efficiency of the liquefaction cycle. The study computes the distribution of losses at different refrigeration stages of the cycle and helps in selecting optimum cycle pressures, operating temperature levels of expanders and mass flow rates through them. Results from the analysis may help evolving guidelines for designing appropriate thermodynamic cycles for practical helium liquefaction systems.

  1. A forward model for the helium plume effect and the interpretation of helium charge exchange measurements at ASDEX Upgrade

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kappatou, A.; McDermott, R. M.; Pütterich, T.; Dux, R.; Geiger, B.; Jaspers, R. J. E.; Donné, A. J. H.; Viezzer, E.; Cavedon, M.; the ASDEX Upgrade Team

    2018-05-01

    The analysis of the charge exchange measurements of helium is hindered by an additional emission contributing to the spectra, the helium ‘plume’ emission (Fonck et al 1984 Phys. Rev. A 29 3288), which complicates the interpretation of the measurements. The plume emission is indistinguishable from the active charge exchange signal when standard analysis of the spectra is applied and its intensity is of comparable magnitude for ASDEX Upgrade conditions, leading to a significant overestimation of the He2+ densities if not properly treated. Furthermore, the spectral line shape of the plume emission is non-Gaussian and leads to wrong ion temperature and flow measurements when not taken into account. A kinetic model for the helium plume emission has been developed for ASDEX Upgrade. The model is benchmarked against experimental measurements and is shown to capture the underlying physics mechanisms of the plume effect, as it can reproduce the experimental spectra and provides consistent values for the ion temperature, plasma rotation, and He2+ density.

  2. Novel Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Power Cycle Utilizing Pressured Oxy-combustion in Conjunction with Cryogenic Compression

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brun, Klaus; McClung, Aaron; Davis, John

    2014-03-31

    such as blade cooling. The overall technical readiness of the supercritical oxy-combustion cycle is TRL 2, Technology Concept, due to the maturity level of the supercritical oxy-combustor for solid fuels, and several critical supporting components, as identified in the Technical Gap Analysis. The supercritical oxycombustor for solid fuels operating at pressures near 100 atm is a unique component of the supercritical oxy-combustion cycle. In addition to the low TRL supercritical oxy-combustor, secondary systems were identified that would require adaptation for use with the supercritical oxycombustion cycle. These secondary systems include the high pressure pulverized coal feed, high temperature cyclone, removal of post-combustion particulates from the high pressure cyclone underflow stream, and micro-channel heat exchangers tolerant of particulate loading. Bench scale testing was utilized to measure coal combustion properties at elevated pressures in a CO{sub 2} environment. This testing included coal slurry preparation, visualization of coal injection into a high pressure fluid, and modification of existing test equipment to facilitate the combustion properties testing. Additional bench scale testing evaluated the effectiveness of a rotary atomizer for injecting a coal-water slurry into a fluid with similar densities, as opposed to the typical application where the high density fluid is injected into a low density fluid. The swirl type supercritical oxy-combustor was developed from initial concept to an advanced design stage through numerical simulation using FLUENT and Chemkin to model the flow through the combustor and provide initial assessment of the coal combustion reactions in the flow path. This effort enabled the initial combustor mechanical layout, initial pressure vessel design, and the conceptual layout of a pilot scale test loop. A pilot scale demonstration of the supercritical oxy-combustion cycle is proposed as the next step in the technology development

  3. Numerical investigation of supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor in horizontal rod bundles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shang Zhi, E-mail: shangzhi@tsinghua.org.c [Faculty of Engineering, Kingston University, London SW15 3DW (United Kingdom); Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Lo, Simon, E-mail: simon.lo@uk.cd-adapco.co [CD-adapco, Trident House, Basil Hill Road, Didcot OX11 7HJ (United Kingdom)

    2010-04-15

    The commercial CFD code STAR-CD v4.02 is used as a numerical simulation tool for flows in the supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR). The basic heat transfer element in the reactor core can be considered as round rods and rod bundles. Reactors with vertical or horizontal flow in the core can be found. In vertically oriented core, symmetric characters of flow and heat transfer can be found and two-dimensional analyses are often performed. However, in horizontally oriented core the flow and heat transfer are fully three-dimensional due to the buoyancy effect. In this paper, horizontal rods and rod bundles at SCWR conditions are studied. Special STAR-CD subroutines were developed by the authors to correctly represent the dramatic change in physical properties of the supercritical water with temperature. In the rod bundle simulations, it is found that the geometry and orientation of the rod bundle have strong effects on the wall temperature distributions and heat transfers. In one orientation the square bundle has a higher wall temperature difference than other bundles. However, when the bundles are rotated by 90 deg. the highest wall temperature difference is found in the hexagon bundle. Similar analysis could be useful in design and safety studies to obtain optimum fuel rod arrangement in a SCWR.

  4. Cryogenic filter method produces super-pure helium and helium isotopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hildebrandt, A. F.

    1964-01-01

    Helium is purified when cooled in a low pressure environment until it becomes superfluid. The liquid helium is then filtered through iron oxide particles. Heating, cooling and filtering processes continue until the purified liquid helium is heated to a gas.

  5. Role of expanders in helium liquefaction cycles: Parametric studies using Collins cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, Rijo Jacob; Ghosh, Parthasarathi; Chowdhury, Kanchan

    2011-01-01

    Large scale helium liquefaction/refrigeration plant is a key subsystem of fusion devices. Performance of these plants is dependent on a number of geometric and operating parameters of its constituting components such as compressors, heat exchangers, expanders, valves, etc. Expander has been chosen as the subject matter of analyses in the present study. As the sensible cold of helium vapor is lost in liquefiers, the expanders in liquefaction cycles have to provide more refrigeration than those in refrigeration cycles. The expander parameters such as rate of mass flow, operating pressure, inlet temperature, etc. are inter-dependent, and hence, it is difficult to predict the system behavior with variation of a particular parameter. This necessitates the use of process simulators. Parametric studies have been performed on Collins helium liquefaction cycle using Aspen HYSYS. Collins cycle has all the basic characteristics of a large-scale helium liquefier and the results of this study may be extrapolated to understand the behavior of large scale helium liquefiers. The study shows that the maximum liquid production is obtained when 80% of the compressor flow is diverted through the expanders and it is equally distributed between the two expanders. The relationships between the liquid production and the isentropic efficiency of expanders are almost linear and both the higher and lower temperature expanders exhibit similar trends.

  6. Role of expanders in helium liquefaction cycles: Parametric studies using Collins cycle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thomas, Rijo Jacob, E-mail: rijojthomas@gmail.com [Cryogenic Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302 (India); Ghosh, Parthasarathi; Chowdhury, Kanchan [Cryogenic Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302 (India)

    2011-06-15

    Large scale helium liquefaction/refrigeration plant is a key subsystem of fusion devices. Performance of these plants is dependent on a number of geometric and operating parameters of its constituting components such as compressors, heat exchangers, expanders, valves, etc. Expander has been chosen as the subject matter of analyses in the present study. As the sensible cold of helium vapor is lost in liquefiers, the expanders in liquefaction cycles have to provide more refrigeration than those in refrigeration cycles. The expander parameters such as rate of mass flow, operating pressure, inlet temperature, etc. are inter-dependent, and hence, it is difficult to predict the system behavior with variation of a particular parameter. This necessitates the use of process simulators. Parametric studies have been performed on Collins helium liquefaction cycle using Aspen HYSYS. Collins cycle has all the basic characteristics of a large-scale helium liquefier and the results of this study may be extrapolated to understand the behavior of large scale helium liquefiers. The study shows that the maximum liquid production is obtained when 80% of the compressor flow is diverted through the expanders and it is equally distributed between the two expanders. The relationships between the liquid production and the isentropic efficiency of expanders are almost linear and both the higher and lower temperature expanders exhibit similar trends.

  7. Vortex-induced vibrations of circular cylinder in cross flow at supercritical Reynolds numbers; Chorinkai Reynolds su ryoiki ni okeru enchu no uzu reiki shindo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kawamura, T.; Nakao, T.; Takahashi, M.; Hayashi, M.; Goto, N. [Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

    1999-07-25

    Vortex-induced vibrations were measured for a circular cylinder subjected to a water cross flow at supercritical Reynolds numbers for a wide range of reduced velocities. Turbulence intensities were changed from 1% to 13% in order to investigate the effect of the Strouhal number on the region of synchronization by symmetrical and Karman vortex shedding. The reduced damping of the test cylinder was about 0.1 in water. The surface roughness of the cylinder was a mirror-polished surface. Strouhal number decreased from about 0.48 to 0.29 with increasing turbulence intensity. Synchronized vibrations were observed even at supercritical Reynolds numbers where fluctuating fluid force was small. Reduced velocities at which drag and lift direction lock-in by Karman vortex shedding were initiated decreased with increasing Strouhal number. When Strouhal number was about 0.29, the self-excited vibration in drag direction by symmetrical vortex shedding began at which the frequency ratio of Karman vortex shedding frequency to the natural frequency of cylinder was 0.32. (author)

  8. Superfluid helium on on-orbit transfer (SHOOT) flight experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DiPirro, M.J.; Kittel, P.

    1988-01-01

    The SHOOT flight demonstration is being undertaken to verify component and system level technology necessary to resupply large superfluid helium dewars in space. The baseline configuration uses two identical 210 liter dewars connected by a transfer line which contains a quick disconnect coupling. The helium is transferred back and forth between the dewars under various conditions of flow rate, parasitic heat load, and temperature. An astronaut Extra-Vehicular Activity is also planned to manually mate and demate the coupling. The components necessary for the flight and currently being developed are described

  9. A design study of high electric power for fast reactor cooled by supercritical light water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koshizuka, Seiichi

    2000-03-01

    In order to evaluate the possibility to achieve high electric power by a fast reactor with supercritical light water, the design study was carried out on a large fast reactor core with high coolant outlet temperature (SCFR-H). Since the reactor coolant circuit uses once-through direct cycle where all feedwater flows through the core to the turbine at supercritical pressure, it is possible to design much simpler and more compact reactor systems and to achieve higher thermal efficiency than those of current light water reactors. The once-through direct cycle system is employed in current fossil-fired power plants. In the present study, three types of core were designed. The first is SCFR-H with blankets cooled by ascending flow, the second is SCFR-H with blankets cooled by descending flow and the third is SCFR-H with high thermal power. Every core was designed to achieve the thermal efficiency over 43%, positive coolant density reactivity coefficient and electric power over 1600 MW. Core characteristics of SCFR-Hs were compared with those of SCLWR-H (electric power: 1212 MW), which is a thermal neutron spectrum reactor cooled and moderated by supercritical light water, with the same diameter of the reactor pressure vessel. It was shown that SCFR-H could increase the electric power about 1.7 times maximally. From the standpoint of the increase of a reactor thermal power, a fast reactor has advantages as compared with a thermal neutron reactor, because it can increase the power density by adopting tight fuel lattices and eliminating the moderator region. Thus, it was concluded that a reactor cooled by supercritical light water could further improve the cost competitiveness by using a fast neutron spectrum and achieving a higher thermal power. (author)

  10. Stability analysis of fluid at supercritical pressure in a heated channel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gallaway, T.; Podowski, M. Z.

    2010-01-01

    The Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) is one of several reactor design concepts included in the Generation IV International Advanced Reactor Design Program. This reactor design is based upon current light water reactors and supercritical fossil-fuel power plants. Water at supercritical pressures is used as the reactor coolant. At these conditions, there is no phase change in the coolant; however the fluid properties undergo significant variation, particularly in the pseudo-critical region. The fluid density may decrease by a factor of six with increasing temperature. It has been seen before that variations in fluid density can lead to density-wave oscillations in two-phase flow systems in general and boiling water reactors in particular. Such instabilities may cause many undesired problems for reactor operation and safety. Similar issues must be addressed in the design and safety analysis of SCWRs. The objective of the present work has been the development of a detailed one-dimensional model of instabilities in a heated channel corresponding to the geometry and flow conditions in the proposed typical SCWRs. The new model is capable of analyzing in detail transient effects of local property variations in parallel channels subject to a constant pressure drop boundary condition. In particular, such a model can be used to establish SCWR power limits imposed by the onset of instabilities in the hot channel of the reactor. Both time and frequency-domain methods of stability analysis have been developed. The latter method is particularly important since it is not associated with any numerical issues, is very accurate, and allows for establishing general stability boundaries in a computationally effective manner. Model testing has included a study of dependence of the proposed spatial discretization scheme on the accuracy of calculations. A parametric study has also been performed on the effect of channel operating conditions on flow oscillations. Finally, a stability map

  11. Measurements of convective heat transfer to vertical upward flows of CO{sub 2} in circular tubes at near-critical and supercritical pressures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zahlan, H., E-mail: hussamzahlan@gmail.com [Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, K0J 1J0 (Canada); Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (Canada); Groeneveld, D. [Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, K0J 1J0 (Canada); Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (Canada); Tavoularis, S. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 (Canada)

    2015-08-15

    Highlights: • We present and discuss results of thermal–hydraulic measurements in CO{sub 2} for the near critical and supercritical pressure region. • We report the full heat transfer and pressure drop database. - Abstract: An extensive experimental program of heat transfer measurements has been completed recently at the University of Ottawa's supercritical pressure test facility (SCUOL). Thermal–hydraulics tests were performed for vertical upflow of carbon dioxide in directly heated tubes with inner diameters of 8 and 22 mm, at high subcritical, near-critical and supercritical pressures. The test conditions, when converted to water-equivalent values, correspond to conditions of interest to current Super-Critical Water-Cooled Reactor designs, and include many measurements under conditions for which few data are available in the literature. These data significantly complement the existing experimental database and are being used for the derivation and validation of a new heat transfer prediction method in progress at the University of Ottawa. The same data are also suitable for the assessment of the accuracy of other heat transfer prediction methods and fluid-to-fluid scaling laws for near-critical and supercritical pressures. In addition, they permit further examination of previously suggested relationships describing the critical heat flux and post-dryout heat transfer coefficient at high subcritical pressures and the boundaries of the deteriorated/enhanced heat transfer regions for near-critical and supercritical pressures. The measurements reported in this paper cover several subcritical heat transfer modes, including single phase liquid heat transfer, nucleate boiling, critical heat flux, post-dryout heat transfer and superheated vapor heat transfer; they also cover several supercritical heat transfer modes, including heat transfer to liquid-like supercritical fluid and heat transfer to vapor-like supercritical fluid, which occurred in the

  12. Advanced Thermal Storage for Central Receivers with Supercritical Coolants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kelly, Bruce D.

    2010-06-15

    The principal objective of the study is to determine if supercritical heat transport fluids in a central receiver power plant, in combination with ceramic thermocline storage systems, offer a reduction in levelized energy cost over a baseline nitrate salt concept. The baseline concept uses a nitrate salt receiver, two-tank (hot and cold) nitrate salt thermal storage, and a subcritical Rankine cycle. A total of 6 plant designs were analyzed, as follows: Plant Designation Receiver Fluid Thermal Storage Rankine Cycle Subcritical nitrate salt Nitrate salt Two tank nitrate salt Subcritical Supercritical nitrate salt Nitrate salt Two tank nitrate salt Supercritical Low temperature H2O Supercritical H2O Two tank nitrate salt Supercritical High temperature H2O Supercritical H2O Packed bed thermocline Supercritical Low temperature CO2 Supercritical CO2 Two tank nitrate salt Supercritical High temperature CO2 Supercritical CO2 Packed bed thermocline Supercritical Several conclusions have been drawn from the results of the study, as follows: 1) The use of supercritical H2O as the heat transport fluid in a packed bed thermocline is likely not a practical approach. The specific heat of the fluid is a strong function of the temperatures at values near 400 °C, and the temperature profile in the bed during a charging cycle is markedly different than the profile during a discharging cycle. 2) The use of supercritical CO2 as the heat transport fluid in a packed bed thermocline is judged to be technically feasible. Nonetheless, the high operating pressures for the supercritical fluid require the use of pressure vessels to contain the storage inventory. The unit cost of the two-tank nitrate salt system is approximately $24/kWht, while the unit cost of the high pressure thermocline system is nominally 10 times as high. 3) For the supercritical fluids, the outer crown temperatures of the receiver tubes are in the range of 700 to 800 °C. At temperatures of 700 °C and above

  13. Technology with Supercritical Fluid. Part 2. Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marongiu, B.; De Giorgi, M. R.; Porcedda, S.; Cadoni, E.

    1998-01-01

    The present article is based on a bibliographical analysis of the main applications of the supercritical fluid in various fields, as: extraction from solid matrices, division of liquid charges, chromatography HPLC with supercritical eluent, chemical and biochemical reactions in supercritical solvents etc [it

  14. Conceptual design of solid breeder blanket system cooled by supercritical water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enoeda, Mikio; Akiba, Masato; Ohara, Yoshihiro

    2001-12-01

    This report is a summary of the design works, which was discussed in the design workshop held in 2000 for the demonstration (DEMO) blanket aimed to strengthen the commercial competitiveness and technical feasibility simultaneously. The discussion of the Fusion Council in 1999 updated the assessment of the mission of DEMO blanket. Updated mission of the DEMO blanket is to be the prototype of the commercially competitive power plant. The DEMO blanket must supply the feasibility and experience of the total design of the power plant and the materials. From such standing point, the conceptual design study was performed to determine the updated strategy and goal of the R and D of the DEMO blanket which applies the supercritical water cooling proposed in A-SSTR, taking into account the recent progress of the plasma research and reactor engineering technology. The DEMO blanket applies the solid breeder materials and supercritical water cooling. The product tritium is purged out by helium gas stream in the breeder region. In the breeder region, the pebble bed concept was applied to withstand instable cracking of the breeder and multiplier materials in high neutron irradiation and high temperature operation. Inlet temperature of the coolant is planned to be 280degC and final outlet temperature is 510degC to obtain high energy conversion efficiency up to 43%. Reduced activation ferritic steel, F82H and ODS ferritic steel were selected as the structural material. Lithium ceramics, Li 2 TiO 3 or Li 2 O were selected as the breeder materials. Beryllium or its inter-metallic compound Be12Ti was selected as the neutron multiplier materials. Basic module structure was selected as the box type structure which enables the remote handling replacement of the module from in-vessel access. Dimension of the box is limited to 2 m x 2 m, or smaller, due to the dimension of the replacement port. In the supercritical water cooling, the high coolant temperature is the merit for the energy

  15. Supercritical transitiometry of polymers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randzio, S L; Grolier, J P

    1998-06-01

    Employing supercritical fluids (SCFs) during polymers processing allows the unusual properties of SCFs to be exploited for making polymer products that cannot be obtained by other means. A new supercritical transitiometer has been constructed to permit study of the interactions of SCFs with polymers during processing under well-defined conditions of temperature and pressure. The supercritical transitiometer allows pressure to be exerted by either a supercritical fluid or a neutral medium and enables simultaneous determination of four basic parameters of a transition, i.e., p, T, Δ(tr)H and Δ(tr)V. This permits determination of the SCF effect on modification of the polymer structure at a given pressure and temperature and defines conditions to allow reproducible preparation of new polymer structures. Study of a semicrystalline polyethylene by this method has defined conditions for preparation of new microfoamed phases with good mechanical properties. The low densities and microporous structures of the new materials may make them useful for applications in medicine, pharmacy, or the food industry, for example.

  16. Supercritical fluid technologies for ceramic-processing applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matson, D.W.; Smith, R.D.

    1989-01-01

    This paper reports on the applications of supercritical fluid technologies for ceramic processing. The physical and chemical properties of these densified gases are summarized and related to their use as solvents and processing media. Several areas are identified in which specific ceramic processes benefit from the unique properties of supercritical fluids. The rapid expansion of supercritical fluid solutions provides a technique for producing fine uniform powders and thin films of widely varying materials. Supercritical drying technologies allow the formation of highly porous aerogel products with potentially wide application. Hydrothermal processes leading to the formation of large single crystals and microcrystalline powders can also be extended into the supercritical regime of water. Additional applications and potential applications are identified in the areas of extraction of binders and other additives from ceramic compacts, densification of porous ceramics, the formation of powders in supercritical micro-emulsions, and in preceramic polymer processing

  17. Startup of a high-temperature reactor cooled and moderated by supercritical-pressure light water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yi, Tin Tin; Ishiwatari, Yuki; Koshizuka, Seiichi; Oka, Yoshiaki

    2003-01-01

    The startup schemes of high-temperature reactors cooled and moderated by supercritical pressure light water (SCLWR-H) with square lattice and descending flow type water rods are studied by thermal-hydraulic analysis. In this study, two kinds of startup systems are investigated. In the constant pressure startup system, the reactor starts at a supercritical pressure. A flash tank and pressure reducing valves are necessary. The flash tank is designed so that the moisture content in the steam is less than 0.1%. In sliding pressure startup system, the reactor starts at a subcritical pressure. A steam-water separator and a drain tank are required for two-phase flow at startup. The separator is designed by referring to the water separator used in supercritical fossil-fired power plants. The maximum cladding surface temperature during the power-raising phase of startup is restricted not to exceed the rated value of 620degC. The minimum feedwater flow rate is 25% for constant pressure startup and 35% for sliding pressure startup system. It is found that both constant pressure startup system and sliding pressure startup system are feasible in SCLWR-H from the thermal hydraulic point of view. The core outlet temperature as high as 500degC can be achieved in the present design of SCLWR-H. Since the feedwater flow rate of SCLWR-H (1190 kg/s) is lower than that of the previous SCR designs the weight of the component required for startup is reduced. The sliding pressure startup system is better than constant pressure startup system in order to reduce the required component weight (and hence material expenditure) and to simplify the startup plant system. (author)

  18. Helium cryogenics

    CERN Document Server

    Van Sciver, Steven W

    2012-01-01

    Twenty five years have elapsed since the original publication of Helium Cryogenics. During this time, a considerable amount of research and development involving helium fluids has been carried out culminating in several large-scale projects. Furthermore, the field has matured through these efforts so that there is now a broad engineering base to assist the development of future projects. Helium Cryogenics, 2nd edition brings these advances in helium cryogenics together in an updated form. As in the original edition, the author's approach is to survey the field of cryogenics with emphasis on helium fluids. This approach is more specialized and fundamental than that contained in other cryogenics books, which treat the associated range of cryogenic fluids. As a result, the level of treatment is more advanced and assumes a certain knowledge of fundamental engineering and physics principles, including some quantum mechanics. The goal throughout the work is to bridge the gap between the physics and engineering aspe...

  19. Degradation Characteristics of Wood Using Supercritical Alcohols

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeeban Poudel

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available In this work, the characteristics of wood degradation using supercritical alcohols have been studied. Supercritical ethanol and supercritical methanol were used as solvents. The kinetics of wood degradation were analyzed using the nonisothermal weight loss technique with heating rates of 3.1, 9.8, and 14.5 °C/min for ethanol and 5.2, 11.3, and 16.3 °C/min for methanol. Three different kinetic analysis methods were implemented to obtain the apparent activation energy and the overall reaction order for wood degradation using supercritical alcohols. These were used to compare with previous data for supercritical methanol. From this work, the activation energies of wood degradation in supercritical ethanol were obtained as 78.0–86.0, 40.1–48.1, and 114 kJ/mol for the different kinetic analysis methods used in this work. The activation energies of wood degradation in supercritical ethanol were obtained as 78.0–86.0, 40.1–48.1, and 114 kJ/mol. This paper also includes the analysis of the liquid products obtained from this work. The characteristic analysis of liquid products on increasing reaction temperature and time has been performed by GC-MS. The liquid products were categorized according to carbon numbers and aromatic/aliphatic components. It was found that higher conversion in supercritical ethanol occurs at a lower temperature than that of supercritical methanol. The product analysis shows that the majority of products fall in the 2 to 15 carbon number range.

  20. Experimental and numerical study on transient heat transfer for helium gas flowing over a twisted plate with different length

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Li; Liu, Qiusheng; Fukuda, Katsuya

    2015-01-01

    This study was conducted to investigate the transient heat transfer process between the solid surface and the coolant (helium gas) in Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). Forced convection transient heat transfer for helium gas flowing over a twisted plate with different length was experimentally and theoretically studied. The heat generation rate of the twisted plate was increased with a function of Q = Q_0exp(t/τ)(where t is time, τ is period). Experiment was carried out at various periods ranged from 35 ms to 14 s and gas temperature of 303 K under 500 kPa. The flow velocities ranged from 4 m/s to 10 m/s. Platinum plates with a thickness of 0.1 mm and width of 4 mm were used as the test heaters. The plates were twisted with the same helical pitch of 20 mm, and length of 26.8 mm, 67.8 mm and 106.4 mm (pitch numbers of 1, 3 and 5), respectively. Based on the experimental data, it was found that the average heat transfer coefficient approaches the quasi-steady-state value when the dimensionless period τ* (τ* = τU/L, U is flow velocity, and L is effective length) is larger than about 100 and it becomes higher when τ* is small. The heat transfer coefficient decreases with the increase of twisted plate length under the same period of heat generation rate. According to the experimental data, the distribution for heat transfer coefficient along the heater is nonlinear. Numerical simulation results were obtained for average surface temperature difference, heat flux and heat transfer coefficient of the twisted plates with different length and showed reasonable agreement with experimental data. Based on the numerical simulation, mechanism of local heat transfer coefficient distribution was clarified. (author)

  1. State of the Art Report for a Bearing for VHTR Helium Circulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jae Seon; Song, Kee Nam; Kim, Yong Wan; Lee, Won Jae

    2008-10-01

    A helium circulator in a VHTR(Very High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor) plays a core role which translates thermal energy at high temperature from a nuclear core to a steam generator. Helium as a operating coolant circulates a primary circuit in high temperature and high pressure state, and controls thermal output of a nuclear core by controlling flow rate. A helium circulator is the only rotating machinery in a VHTR, and its reliability should be guaranteed for reliable operation of a reactor and stable production of hydrogen. Generally a main helium circulator is installed on the top of a steam generator vessel, and helium is circulated only by a main helium circulator in a normal operation state. An auxiliary or shutdown circulator is installed at the bottom of a reactor vessel, and it is an auxiliary circulator for shutting down a reactor in case of refueling or accelerating cooling down in case of fast cooling. Since a rotating shaft of a helium circulator is supported by bearings, bearings are the important machine elements which determines reliability of a helium circulator and a nuclear reactor. Various types of support bearings have been developed and applied for circulator bearings since 1960s, and it is still developing for developing VHTRs. So it is necessary to review and analyze the current technical state of helium circulator support bearings to develop bearings for Koran developing VHTR helium circulator

  2. Impact of process parameters and design options on heat leaks of straight cryogenic distribution lines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Duda

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The Future Circular Collider (FCC accelerator will require a helium distribution system that will exceed the presently exploited transfer lines by almost 1 order of magnitude. The helium transfer line will contain five process pipes protected against heat leaks by a common thermal shield. The design pressure of the FCC process pipe with supercritical helium will be equal to 5.0 MPa, significantly exceeding the 2.0 MPa value in the present, state-of–art transfer lines. The increase of the design pressure requires construction changes to be introduced to the support system, the vacuum barriers and the compensation bellows. This will influence heat flows to the helium. The paper analyses the impact of the increased design pressure on the heat flow. The paper also offers a discussion of the design modifications to the compensation system, including the replacement of stainless steel with Invar®—aimed at mitigating the pressure increase.

  3. Experimental investigation of the thermal hydraulics in lead bismuth eutectic-helium experimental loop of an accelerator-driven system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xi, Wenxuan; Wang, Yong Wei; Li, Xun Feng; Huai, Xiulan; Cal, Jun [Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)

    2016-10-15

    The heat transfer characteristics between liquid lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) and helium are of great significance for the two-loop cooling system based on an accelerator-driven system (ADS). This paper presents an experimental study on the resistance characteristics and heat transfer performance in a LBE-helium experimental loop of ADS. Pressure drops in the LBE loop, the main heat transfer, and the coupled heat transfer characteristics between LBE and helium are investigated experimentally. The temperature of LBE has a significant effect on the LBE thermo-physical properties, and is therefore considered in the prediction of pressure drops. The results show that the overall heat transfer coefficient increases with the increasing helium flow rate and the decreasing inlet temperature of helium. Increasing the LBE Reynolds number and LBE inlet temperature promotes the heat transfer performance of main heat transfer and thus the overall heat transfer coefficient. The experimental results give an insight into the flow and heat transfer properties in a LBE-helium heat exchanger and are helpful for the optimization of an ADS system design.

  4. Installation and Commissioning of the Helium Refrigeration System for the HANARO-CNS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Jung Woon; Kim, Young Ki; Wu, Sang Ik; Son, Woo Jung

    2009-11-01

    The cold neutron source (CNS), which will be installed in the vertical CN hole of the reflector tank at HANARO, makes thermal neutrons to moderate into the cold neutrons with the ranges of 0.1 ∼ 10 meV passing through a moderator at about 22K. A moderator to produce cold neutrons is liquid hydrogen, which liquefies by the heat transfer with cryogenic helium flowing from the helium refrigeration system. For the maintenance of liquid hydrogen in the IPA, the CNS system is mainly consisted of the hydrogen system to supply the hydrogen to the IPA, the vacuum system to keep the cryogenic liquid hydrogen in the IPA, and the helium refrigeration system to liquefy the hydrogen gas. The helium refrigeration system can be divided into two sections: one is the helium compression part from the low pressure gas to the high pressure gas and the other is the helium expansion part from the high temperature gas and pressure to low temperature and pressure gas by the expansion turbine. The helium refrigeration system except the warm helium pipe and the helium buffer tank has been manufactured by Linde Kryotechnik, AG in Switzerland and installed in the research reactor hall, HANARO. Other components have been manufactured in the domestic company. This technical report deals with the issues, its solutions, and other particular points while the helium refrigeration system was installed at site, verified its performance, and conducted its commissioning along the reactor operation. Furthermore, the operation procedure of the helium refrigeration system is included in here for the normal operation of the CNS

  5. Supercritical fluids in ionic liquids

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kroon, M.C.; Peters, C.J.; Plechkova, N.V.; Seddon, K.R.

    2014-01-01

    Ionic liquids and supercritical fluids are both alternative environmentally benign solvents, but their properties are very different. Ionic liquids are non-volatile but often considered highly polar compounds, whereas supercritical fluids are non-polar but highly volatile compounds. The combination

  6. PULSE RADIOLYSIS IN SUPERCRITICAL RARE GAS FLUIDS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    HOLROYD, R.

    2007-01-01

    Recently, supercritical fluids have become quite popular in chemical and semiconductor industries for applications in chemical synthesis, extraction, separation processes, and surface cleaning. These applications are based on: the high dissolving power due to density build-up around solute molecules, and the ability to tune the conditions of a supercritical fluid, such as density and temperature, that are most suitable for a particular reaction. The rare gases also possess these properties and have the added advantage of being supercritical at room temperature. Information about the density buildup around both charged and neutral species can be obtained from fundamental studies of volume changes in the reactions of charged species in supercritical fluids. Volume changes are much larger in supercritical fluids than in ordinary solvents because of their higher compressibility. Hopefully basic studies, such as discussed here, of the behavior of charged species in supercritical gases will provide information useful for the utilization of these solvents in industrial applications

  7. Liquid helium

    CERN Document Server

    Atkins, K R

    1959-01-01

    Originally published in 1959 as part of the Cambridge Monographs on Physics series, this book addresses liquid helium from the dual perspectives of statistical mechanics and hydrodynamics. Atkins looks at both Helium Three and Helium Four, as well as the properties of a combination of the two isotopes. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of science and the study of one of the universe's most fundamental elements.

  8. Development of a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle: Improving VHTR Efficiency and Testing Material Compatibility - Final Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang H. Oh

    2006-01-01

    Generation IV reactors will need to be intrinsically safe, having a proliferation-resistant fuel cycle and several advantages relative to existing light water reactor (LWR). They, however, must still overcome certain technical issues and the cost barrier before it can be built in the U.S. The establishment of a nuclear power cost goal of 3.3 cents/kWh is desirable in order to compete with fossil combined-cycle, gas turbine power generation. This goal requires approximately a 30 percent reduction in power cost for state-of-the-art nuclear plants. It has been demonstrated that this large cost differential can be overcome only by technology improvements that lead to a combination of better efficiency and more compatible reactor materials. The objectives of this research are (1) to develop a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle in the secondary power conversion side that can be applied to the Very-High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR), (2) to improve the plant net efficiency by using the carbon dioxide Brayton cycle, and (3) to test material compatibility at high temperatures and pressures. The reduced volumetric flow rate of carbon dioxide due to higher density compared to helium will reduce compression work, which eventually increase plant net efficiency

  9. Heat Transfer Characteristics for an Upward Flowing Supercritical Pressure CO{sub 2} in a Vertical Annulus Passage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Deog Ji; Kim, Sin [Cheju National Univ., Cheju (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Hwan Yeol; Bae, Yoon Yeong [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2007-07-01

    Heat transfer experiments at a vertical annulus passage were carried out in the SPHINX(Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt Generation) to investigate the heat transfer behaviors of supercritical CO{sub 2}. The collected test data are to be used for the reactor core design of the SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor). The mass flux was in the range of 400 {approx}1200 kg/m{sup 2}s and the heat flux was chosen up to 150 kW/m{sup 2}. The selected pressures were 7.75 and 8.12 MPa. The heat transfer data were analyzed and compared with the previous tube test data. The test results showed that the heat transfer characteristics were similar to those of the tube in case of a normal heat transfer mode and degree of heat transfer deterioration became smaller than that in the tube. Comparison of the experimental heat transfer coefficients with the predicted ones by the existing correlations showed that there was not a distinct difference between the correlations.

  10. Supercritical fluid chromatography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vigdergauz, M. S.; Lobachev, A. L.; Lobacheva, I. V.; Platonov, I. A.

    1992-03-01

    The characteristic features of supercritical fluid chromatography (SCFC) are examined and there is a brief historical note concerning the development of the method. Information concerning the use of supercritical fluid chromatography in the analysis of objects of different nature is presented in the form of a table. The roles of the mobile and stationary phases in the separation process and the characteristic features of the apparatus and of the use of the method in physicochemical research are discussed. The bibliography includes 364 references.

  11. CARR-CNS with crescent-shape moderator cell and sub-cooling helium jacket surrounding cell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Qingfeng; Feng, Quanke; Kawai, Takeshi; Shen, Feng; Yuan, Luzheng

    2005-01-01

    The new type of the moderator cell was developed for the Cold Neutron Source (CNS) of the China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR) which is now constructing at the China Institute of Atomic Energy in Beijing. A crescent-shape moderator cell covered by the sub-cooling helium jacket is adopted. A crescent-shape would help to increase the volume of the moderator cell for corresponding it to the 4 cold neutron guide tubes, even if liquid hydrogen not liquid deuterium were used as a cold moderator. The sub-cooling helium jacket covering the moderator cell removes the nuclear heating of the outer shell wall of the cell. It contributes to reduce the void fraction of liquid hydrogen in the inner shell. Such a type of a moderator cell is suitable for the CNS with higher nuclear heating. The cold helium gas flows down firstly into the sub-cooling helium jacket and then flows up to the condenser. Therefore, the theory of the self-regulation for the thermo-siphon type of the CNS is also applicable

  12. CARR-CNS with crescent-shape moderator cell and sub-cooling helium jacket around cell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Qingfeng; Feng, Quanke; Kawai, Takeshi; Cheng, Liang; Shen, Feng; Yuan, Luzheng

    2005-01-01

    The new type of the moderator cell was developed for the Cold Neutron Source (CNS) of the China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR) which is now constructing at the China Institute of Atomic Energy in Beijing. A crescent-shape moderator cell covered by the sub-cooling helium jacket is adopted. A crescent-shape would help to increase the volume of the moderator cell for corresponding it to the 4 cold neutron guide tubes, even if liquid hydrogen not liquid deuterium were used as a cold moderator. The sub-cooling helium jacket covering the moderator cell removes the nuclear heating of the outer shell wall of the cell. It contributes to reduce the void fraction of liquid hydrogen in the inner shell. Such a type of a moderator cell is suitable for the CNS with higher nuclear heating. The cold helium gas flows down firstly into the sub-cooling helium jacket and then flows up to the condenser. Therefore, the theory of the self-regulation for the thermo-siphon type of the CNS is also applicable

  13. Direct implementation of an axial-flow helium gas turbine tool in a system analysis tool for HTGRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Ji Hwan; No, Hee Cheon; Kim, Hyeun Min; Lim, Hong Sik

    2008-01-01

    This study concerns the development of dynamic models for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) through direct implementation of a gas turbine analysis code with a transient analysis code. We have developed a streamline curvature analysis code based on the Newton-Raphson numerical application (SANA) to analyze the off-design performance of helium gas turbines under conditions of normal operation. The SANA code performs a detailed two-dimensional analysis by means of throughflow calculation with allowances for losses in axial-flow multistage compressors and turbines. To evaluate the performance in the steady-state and load transient of HTGRs, we developed GAMMA-T by implementing SANA in the transient system code, GAMMA, which is a multidimensional, multicomponent analysis tool for HTGRs. The reactor, heat exchangers, and connecting pipes were designed with a one-dimensional thermal-hydraulic model that uses the GAMMA code. We assessed GAMMA-T by comparing its results with the steady-state results of the GTHTR300 of JAEA. We concluded that the results are in good agreement, including the results of the vessel cooling bypass flow and the turbine cooling flow

  14. Gas turbine modular helium reactor in cogeneration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leon de los Santos, G.

    2009-10-01

    This work carries out the thermal evaluation from the conversion of nuclear energy to electric power and process heat, through to implement an outline gas turbine modular helium reactor in cogeneration. Modeling and simulating with software Thermo flex of Thermo flow the performance parameters, based on a nuclear power plant constituted by an helium cooled reactor and helium gas turbine with three compression stages, two of inter cooling and one regeneration stage; more four heat recovery process, generating two pressure levels of overheat vapor, a pressure level of saturated vapor and one of hot water, with energetic characteristics to be able to give supply to a very wide gamma of industrial processes. Obtaining a relationship heat electricity of 0.52 and efficiency of net cogeneration of 54.28%, 70.2 MW net electric, 36.6 MW net thermal with 35% of condensed return to 30 C; for a supplied power by reactor of 196.7 MW; and with conditions in advanced gas turbine of 850 C and 7.06 Mpa, assembly in a shaft, inter cooling and heat recovery in cogeneration. (Author)

  15. CALCULATED REGENERATOR PERFORMANCE AT 4 K WITH HELIUM-4 AND HELIUM-3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radebaugh, Ray; Huang Yonghua; O'Gallagher, Agnes; Gary, John

    2008-01-01

    The helium-4 working fluid in regenerative cryocoolers operating with the cold end near 4 K deviates considerably from an ideal gas. As a result, losses in the regenerator, given by the time-averaged enthalpy flux, are increased and are strong functions of the operating pressure and temperature. Helium-3, with its lower boiling point, behaves somewhat closer to an ideal gas in this low temperature range and can reduce the losses in 4 K regenerators. An analytical model is used to find the fluid properties that strongly influence the regenerator losses as well as the gross refrigeration power. The thermodynamic and transport properties of helium-3 were incorporated into the latest NIST regenerator numerical model, known as REGEN3.3, which was used to model regenerator performance with either helium-4 or helium-3. With this model we show how the use of helium-3 in place of helium-4 can improve the performance of 4 K regenerative cryocoolers. The effects of operating pressure, warm-end temperature, and frequency on regenerators with helium-4 and helium-3 are investigated and compared. The results are used to find optimum operating conditions. The frequency range investigated varies from 1 Hz to 30 Hz, with particular emphasis on higher frequencies

  16. Transition to ballistic regime for heat transport in helium II

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sciacca, Michele, E-mail: michele.sciacca@unipa.it [Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Università degli studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo (Italy); Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia (Spain); Sellitto, Antonio, E-mail: ant.sellitto@gmail.com [Dipartimento di Matematica, Informatica ed Economia, Università della Basilicata, Campus Macchia Romana, 85100 Potenza (Italy); Jou, David, E-mail: david.jou@uab.cat [Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia (Spain); Institut d' Estudis Catalans, Carme 47, 08001 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)

    2014-07-04

    The size-dependent and flux-dependent effective thermal conductivity of narrow capillaries filled with superfluid helium is analyzed from a thermodynamic continuum perspective. The classical Landau evaluation of the effective thermal conductivity of quiescent superfluid, or the Gorter–Mellinck regime of turbulent superfluids, is extended to describe the transition to ballistic regime in narrow channels wherein the radius R is comparable to (or smaller than) the phonon mean-free path ℓ in superfluid helium. To do so, we start from an extended equation for the heat flux incorporating non-local terms, and take into consideration a heat slip flow along the walls of the tube. This leads from an effective thermal conductivity proportional to R{sup 2} (Landau regime) to another one proportional to Rℓ (ballistic regime). We consider two kinds of flows: along cylindrical pipes and along two infinite parallel plates. - Highlights: • Heat transport in counterflow helium in the ballistic regime. • The one-fluid model based on the Extended Thermodynamics is used. • The transition from the Landau regime to the ballistic regime. • The transition from quantum turbulence to ballistic regime.

  17. Two Dimensional CFD Analyses on the Heat Transfer for a Supercritical Pressure CO{sub 2}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cho, Bong Hyun; Kim, Young In; Bae, Yoon Yeong [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2005-07-01

    The Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor(SCWR) operates in a pressure around 25MPa and temperature of 293{approx}510 .deg. C. In order to study the heat transfer behaviors and good comparisons between the various fluids, a heat transfer test loop(SPHINX) using CO{sub 2} has been constructed in KAERI as a part of international research program, I-NERI. At a supercritical pressure, the heat transfer coefficient is much larger than that estimated from the Dittus-Boelter correlation for a relatively large flow rate with moderate wall heat flux conditions. This phenomenon was explained by the rapid variations of the physical properties near the wall with the temperature. On the contrary, the heat transfer becomes worse when the bulk fluid enthalpy is below the pseudo-critical enthalpy under a low flow rate with large heat flux conditions. This phenomenon is called 'deteriorated heat transfer', and which is explained as the modification of the shear stress distribution across the tube to a buoyancy and/or acceleration in a low density layer near the wall, with the consequence of a turbulence. The upward vertical flow of CO{sub 2} through a uniformly heated tube of 4.4 mm in diameter and 3m long(heated length is 2.1m) was investigated numerically using the CFD code, FLUENT. Through the numerical simulations, we have attempted to obtain a physically meaningful insight into the heat transfer mechanisms at a supercritical pressure.

  18. Supercritical sedimentary structures and bedforms and criteria for recognition in the field: insights from the Middle Eocene deep-marine Morillo and Guaso systems, Ainsa Basin, Spanish Pyrenees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torley, John; Pickering, Kevin

    2017-04-01

    It has long been acknowledged that for most submarine slopes with gradients > 0.5, common to many deep-water environments, they should contain abundant evidence of supercritical flows and their deposits. However, it is common for deep-marine sands/sandstones to be routinely modelled using the Bouma (1962) sequence for turbidites. Recently, the importance of supercritical flows has been highlighted from seafloor observations, with numerical and physical experiments. Such experiments have produced previously unrecognised bedforms which fail to be interpreted adequately by Bouma's model, including antidunes, chutes-and-pools, and cyclic steps. Fieldwork in the Middle Eocene Ainsa Basin, Spanish Pyrenees, has been undertaken in the Morillo and Guaso systems of the Upper Hecho Group. Approximately 5,000 beds were measured and documented in detail, e.g., grain size, sedimentary structures, bedforms and facies. Collectively, this data can be used to understand supercritical versus subcritical flow. The relative importance of supercritical flow can then be compared and contrasted within individual ancient deep-marine systems. The Morillo System is relatively coarse-grained, compared with the Guaso System. The results of this research contribute to an improved understanding of the processes in deep-marine systems, and directly benefit the hydrocarbon industry by providing better constraints to predict deep-water reservoir composition and architecture.

  19. Transient heat transfer for helium gas flowing over a horizontal cylinder with exponentially increasing heat input

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Qiusheng; Fukuda, Katsuya

    2003-01-01

    The transient heat transfer coefficients for forced convection flow of helium gas over a horizontal cylinder were measured under wide experimental conditions. The platinum cylinder with a diameter of 1.0 mm was used as test heater and heated by electric current with an exponentially increasing heat input of Q 0 exp(t/τ). The gas flow velocities ranged from 5 to 35 m/s, the gas temperatures ranged from 25 to 80degC, and the periods of heat generation rate, τ, ranged from 40 ms to 20 s. The surface superheat and heat flux increase exponentially as the heat generation rate increases with the exponential function. It was clarified that the heat transfer coefficient approaches the quasi-steady-state one for the period τ longer than about 1 s, and it becomes higher for the period shorter than around 1 s. The transient heat transfer shows less dependence on the gas flowing velocity when the period becomes very shorter. The gas temperature in this study shows little influence on the heat transfer coefficient. Semi-empirical correlation for quasi-steady-state heat transfer was obtained based on the experimental data. The ratios of transient Nusselt number Nu tr to quasi-steady-state Nusselt number Nu st at various periods, flow velocities, and gas temperatures were obtained. The heat transfer shifts to the quasi-steady-state heat transfer for longer periods and shifts to the transient heat transfer for shorter periods at the same flow velocity. It also approaches the quasi-steady-state one for higher flow velocity at the same period. Empirical correlation for transient heat transfer was also obtained based on the experimental data. (author)

  20. Chromatographic method of measurement of helium concentration in underground waters for dating in hydrological questions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Najman, J.

    2008-04-01

    Research methods which use natural environmental indicators are widely applied in hydrology. Different concentrations of indicators and their isotopic components in ground waters allow to determine the genesis of waters and are valuable source of information about the water flow dynamics. One of the significant indicator is helium. The concentration of 4 He (helium) in ground water is a fine indicator in water dating in a range from a hundreds to millions of years (Aeschbach-Hertig i in., 1999; Andrews i in., 1989; Castro i in., 2000; Zuber i in., 2007). 4 He is also used for dating young waters of age about 10 years (Solomon i in., 1996). Thesis consist the description of elaborated in IFJ PAN in Krakow chromatographic measurement method of helium concentration in ground waters in aim of dating. Chapter 1 contain short introduction about ground water dating and chapter 2 description of helium property and chosen applications of helium for example in technology and earthquake predictions. Helium sources in ground waters are described in chapter 3. Helium concentration in water after infiltration (originated from atmosphere) to the ground water system depends mainly on the helium concentration coming from the equilibration with the atmosphere increased by additional concentration from '' excess air ''. With the increasing resistance time of ground water during the flow, radiogenic, non-atmospheric component of helium dissolves also in water. In chapter 4 two measurement methods of helium concentration in ground waters were introduced: mass spectrometric and gas chromatographic method. Detailed description of elaborated chromatographic measurement method of helium concentration in ground water contain chapter 5. To verify developed method the concentration of helium in ground waters from the regions of Krakow and Busko Zdroj were measured. For this waters the concentrations of helium are known from the earlier mass spectrometric measurements. The results of

  1. New helium spectrum variable and a new helium-rich star

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walborn, N.R.

    1974-01-01

    HD 184927, known previously as a helium-rich star, has been found to have a variable helium spectrum; the equivalent widths of five He I lines are larger by an average of 46 percent on a 1974 spectrogram than on one obtained with the same equipment in 1970. HD 186205 has been found to be a new, pronounced helium-rich star. (auth)

  2. CFD in supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR) with horizontal tube bundles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shang, Zhi; Lo, Simon

    2009-01-01

    The commercial CFD code STAR-CD 4.02 is used as a numerical simulation tool for flows in the supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR). The basic heat transfer element in the reactor core can be considered as round tubes and tube bundles. Reactors with vertical or horizontal flow in the core can be found. In vertically oriented core, symmetric characters of flow and heat transfer can be found and two-dimensional analyses are often performed. However, in horizontally oriented core the flow and heat transfer are fully three-dimensional due to the buoyancy effect. In this paper, horizontal tubes and tube bundles at SCWR conditions are studied. Special STAR-CD subroutines were developed by the authors to correctly represent the dramatic change in physical properties of the supercritical water with temperature. From the study of single round tubes, the Speziale quadratic non-linear high-Re k-ε turbulence model with the two-layer model for near wall treatment is found to produce the best results in comparison with experimental data. In tube bundle simulations, it is found that the temperature is higher in the top half of the bundle and the highest tube wall temperature is located at the outside tubes where the flow rate is the lowest. The secondary flows across the bundle are highly complex. Their main effect is to even out the temperature over the area within each individual recirculating region. Similar analysis could be useful in design and safety studies to obtain optimum fuel rod arrangement in a SCWR. (author)

  3. CFD in supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR) with horizontal tube bundles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhi Shang, E-mail: zhi.shang@stfc.ac.uk [Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Lo, Simon, E-mail: simon.lo@uk.cd-adapco.com [CD-adapco, Trident House, Basil Hill Road, Didcot OX11 7HJ (United Kingdom)

    2011-11-15

    The commercial CFD code STAR-CD 4.02 is used as a numerical simulation tool for flows in the supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR). The basic heat transfer element in the reactor core can be considered as round tubes and tube bundles. Reactors with vertical or horizontal flow in the core can be found. In a vertically oriented core, symmetric characters of flow and heat transfer can be found and two-dimensional analyses are often performed. However, in a horizontally oriented core the flow and heat transfer are fully three-dimensional due to the buoyancy effect. In this paper, horizontal tubes and tube bundles at SCWR conditions are studied. Special STAR-CD subroutines were developed by the authors to correctly represent the dramatic change in physical properties of the supercritical water with temperature. From the study of single round tubes, the Speziale quadratic non-linear high-Re k-{epsilon} turbulence model with the two-layer model for near wall treatment is found to produce the best results in comparison with experimental data. In tube bundle simulations, it is found that the temperature is higher in the top half of the bundle and the highest tube wall temperature is located at the outside tubes where the flow rate is the lowest. The secondary flows across the bundle are highly complex. Their main effect is to even out the temperature over the area within each individual recirculation region. Similar analysis could be useful in design and safety studies to obtain optimum fuel rod arrangement in a SCWR.

  4. Supercritical fluid extraction of silicone oil from uranate microspheres prepared by sol-gel process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, R.; Venkatakrishnan, R.; Sivaraman, N.; Srinivasan, T.G.; Vasudeva Rao, P.R.

    2005-01-01

    Supercritical fluid extraction of silicone oil from urania microspheres prepared through sol-gel route was investigated. The influence of pressure, temperature, and flow rate on the extraction efficiency was studied. Experimental conditions were optimised for the complete removal of silicone oil from urania microspheres. (author)

  5. Subchannel analysis with turbulent mixing rate of supercritical pressure fluid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Jianhui; Oka, Yoshiaki

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Subchannel analysis with turbulent mixing rate law of supercritical pressure fluid (SPF) is carried out. • Turbulent mixing rate is enhanced, compared with that calculated by the law of pressurized water reactor (PWR). • Increase in maximum cladding surface temperature (MCST) is smaller comparing with PWR model. • The sensitivities of MCST on non-uniformity of subchannel area and power peaking are reduced by using SPF model. - Abstract: The subchannel analysis with turbulent mixing rate law of supercritical pressure fluid (SPF) is carried out for supercritical-pressurized light water cooled and moderated reactor (Super LWR). It is different from the turbulent mixing rate law of pressurized water reactor (PWR), which is widely adopted in Super LWR subchannel analysis study, the density difference between adjacent subchannels is taken into account for turbulent mixing rate law of SPF. MCSTs are evaluated on three kinds of fuel assemblies with different pin power distribution patterns, gap spacings and mass flow rates. Compared with that calculated by employing turbulent mixing rate law of PWR, the increase in MCST is smaller even when peaking factor is large and gap spacing is uneven. The sensitivities of MCST on non-uniformity of the subchannel area and power peaking are reduced

  6. Drying of supercritical carbon dioxide with membrane processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lohaus, Theresa; Scholz, Marco; Koziara, Beata; Benes, Nieck Edwin; Wessling, Matthias

    2015-01-01

    In supercritical extraction processes regenerating the supercritical fluid represents the main cost constraint. Membrane technology has potential for cost efficient regeneration of water-loaded supercritical carbon dioxide. In this study we have designed membrane-based processes to dehydrate

  7. Verification test for helium panel of cryopump for DIII-D advanced divertor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baxi, C.B.; Laughon, G.J.; Langhorn, A.R.; Schaubel, K.M.; Smith, J.P.; Gootgeld, A.M.; Campbell, G.L.; Menon, M.M.

    1992-01-01

    It is planned to install a cryogenic pump in the lower divertor portion of the DIII-D tokamak with a pumping speed of 50000 ell/s and an exhaust of 2670 Pa-ell/s (20 Torr-ell/s). A coaxial counter flow configuration has been chosen for the helium panel of this cryogenic pump. This paper evaluates cool-down rates and fluid stability of this configuration. A prototypic test was performed at General Atomics (GA) to increase confidence in the design. It was concluded that the helium panel cooldown rate agreed quite well with analytical prediction and was within acceptable limits. The design flow rate proved stable and two-phase pressure drop can be predicted quite accurately

  8. Helium the disappearing element

    CERN Document Server

    Sears, Wheeler M

    2015-01-01

    The subject of the book is helium, the element, and its use in myriad applications including MRI machines, particle accelerators, space telescopes, and of course balloons and blimps. It was at the birth of our Universe, or the Big Bang, where the majority of cosmic helium was created; and stellar helium production continues. Although helium is the second most abundant element in the Universe, it is actually quite rare here on Earth and only exists because of radioactive elements deep within the Earth. This book includes a detailed history of the discovery of helium, of the commercial industry built around it, how the helium we actually encounter is produced within the Earth, and the state of the helium industry today. The gas that most people associate with birthday party balloons is running out. “Who cares?” you might ask. Well, without helium, MRI machines could not function, rockets could not go into space, particle accelerators such as those used by CERN could not operate, fiber optic cables would not...

  9. CFD investigation of vertical rod bundles of supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shang Zhi

    2009-01-01

    The commercial CFD code STAR-CD v4.02 is used as the numerical simulation tool for the supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR). The numerical simulation is based on the real full 3D rod bundles' geometry of the nuclear reactors. For satisfying the near-wall resolution of y + ≤ 1, the structure mesh with the stretched fine mesh near wall is employed. The validation of the numerical simulation for mesh generation strategy and the turbulence model for the heat transfer of supercritical water is carried out to compare with 3D tube experiments. After the validation, the same mesh generation strategy and the turbulence model are employed to study three types of the geometry frame of the real rod bundles. Through the numerical investigations, it is found that the different arrangement of the rod bundles will induce the different temperature distribution at the rods' walls. The wall temperature distributions are non-uniform along the wall and the values depend on the geometry frame. At the same flow conditions, downward flow gets higher wall temperature than upward flow. The hexagon geometry frame has the smallest wall temperature difference comparing with the others. The heat transfer is controlled by P/D ratio of the bundles.

  10. The use of supercritical fluid extraction as a sample preparation technique for soils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levy, J.M.; Dolata, L.A.; Rosselli, A.C.; Ravey, R.M.

    1994-01-01

    Using off-line supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were extracted at different levels from various soil and sediment matrices. Based upon GC/MS measurements a number of SFE operational parameters including pressure, temperature and flow rate, were optimized to yield the highest efficiencies with the best precision

  11. High-heat-flux testing of helium-cooled heat exchangers for fusion applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youchison, D.L.; Izenson, M.G.; Baxi, C.B.; Rosenfeld, J.H.

    1996-01-01

    High-heat-flux experiments on three types of helium-cooled divertor mock-ups were performed on the 30-kW electron beam test system and its associated helium flow loop at Sandia National Laboratories. A dispersion-strengthened copper alloy (DSCu) was used in the manufacture of all the mock-ups. The first heat exchanger provides for enhanced heat transfer at relatively low flow rates and much reduced pumping requirements. The Creare sample was tested to a maximum absorbed heat flux of 5.8 MW/m 2 . The second used low pressure drops and high mass flow rates to achieve good heat removal. The GA specimen was tested to a maximum absorbed heat flux of 9 MW/m 2 while maintaining a surface temperature below 400 degree C. A second experiment resulted in a maximum absorbed heat flux of 34 MW/m 2 and surface temperatures near 533 degree C. The third specimen was a DSCu, axial flow, helium-cooled divertor mock-up filled with a porous metal wick which effectively increases the available heat transfer area. Low mass flow and high pressure drop operation at 4.0 MPa were characteristic of this divertor module. It survived a maximum absorbed heat flux of 16 MW/m 2 and reached a surface temperature of 740 degree C. Thermacore also manufactured a follow-on, dual channel porous metal-type heat exchanger, which survived a maximum absorbed heat flux of 14 MW/m 2 and reached a maximum surface temperature of 690 degree C. 11refs., 20 figs., 3 tabs

  12. Liquid helium target

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujii, Y.; Kitami, T.; Torikoshi, M.

    1984-12-01

    A liquid helium target system has been built and used for the experiment on the reaction 4 He(γ, p). The target system has worked satisfactorily; the consumption rate of liquid helium is 360 ml/h and the cryogenic system retains liquid helium for about ten hours. The structure, operation and performance of the target system are reported. (author)

  13. Experimental study on the minimum drag coefficient of supercritical pressure water in horizontal tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lei, Xianliang; Li, Huixiong; Guo, YuMeng; Zhang, Qing; Zhang, Weiqiang; Zhang, Qian

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • The minimum drag coefficient phenomenon (MDC) has been observed and further investigated. • Effects of heat flux, mass flux and pressure to MDC have been discussed. • A series of comparisons between existing correlations and data have been conducted. • Two correlations of drag coefficient are proposed for isothermal and nonisothermal flow. - Abstract: Hydraulic resistance and its components are of great importance for understanding the turbulence nature of supercritical fluid and establishing prediction methods. Under supercritical pressures, the hydraulic resistance of the fluid exhibits a “pit” in the regions near its pseudo-critical point, which is hereafter called the minimum drag coefficient phenomenon. However, this special phenomenon was paid a little attention before. Hence systematical experiments have been carried out to investigate the hydraulic resistance of supercritical pressure water in both adiabatic and heated horizontal tubes. Parametric effects of heat flux, pressure and mass fluxes to drag coefficient are further compared. It is found that almost all of the existing correlations don’t agree well with the experimental data due to the insufficient consideration of thermal-properties near the pseudocritical point. Two correlations of the drag coefficients are finally proposed by introducing the new variable of the derivative of density with respect to temperature or Prandtl number, which can better predict the drag coefficient of isothermal and nonisothermal flow respectively.

  14. Status of helium-cooled nuclear power systems. [Development potential

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Melese-d' Hospital, G.; Simnad, M

    1977-09-01

    Helium-cooled nuclear power systems offer a great potential for electricity generation when their long-term economic, environmental, conservation and energy self-sufficiency features are examined. The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) has the unique capability of providing high-temperature steam for electric power and process heat uses and/or high-temperature heat for endothermic chemical reactions. A variation of the standard steam cycle HTGR is one in which the helium coolant flows directly from the core to one or more closed cycle gas turbines. The effective use of nuclear fuel resources for electric power and nuclear process heat will be greatly enhanced by the gas-cooled fast breeder reactor (GCFR) currently being developed. A GCFR using thorium in the radial blanket could generate sufficient U-233 to supply the fuel for three HTGRs, or enough plutonium from a depleted uranium blanket to fuel a breeder economy expanding at about 10% per year. The feasibility of utilizing helium to cool a fusion reactor is also discussed. The status of helium-cooled nuclear energy systems is summarized as a basis for assessing their prospects. 50 references.

  15. Design and analysis on super-critical water cooled power reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishiwatari, Yuki

    2005-01-01

    The Super-Critical Water Cooled Power Reactors (SCPR) is cooled by 25 MPa supercritical water of 280degC at reactor inlet and greater than 500degC at reactor outlet and directly connected with turbine/generators with high energy conversion efficiency. This corresponds to the deletion of recirculation system and steam-water separation system of BWR type reactors or of pressurizer and steam generator of PWR type reactors. In addition to the design study of the university of Tokyo, technology development of the SCPR for practical use has started under the collaboration of industry and academia since 2000. Mockup single tube and bundle tests for heat transfer/fluid flow characteristics of the design have been conducted with 3D heat transfer analysis. Materials compatible with coolant conditions for fuel cans and reactor internals are also assessed. Overall evaluation of the reactor concept is under way. (T. Tanaka)

  16. Supercritical CO2 extraction of oil and omega-3 concentrate from Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L. from Antioquia, Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. M. Triana-Maldonado

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L. seeds were employed for oil extraction with supercritical CO2 at laboratory scale. The supercritical extraction was carried out at a temperature of 60 °C, pressure range of 400–500 bars and CO2 flow of 40–80 g/min. The maximum recovery was 58% in 180 min, favored by increasing the residence time of CO2 in the extraction tank. Subsequently, the process was evaluated at pilot scale reaching a maximum recovery of 60% in 105 min, with a temperature of 60 °C, pressure of 450 bars and CO2 flow of 1270 g/min. The fatty acid composition of the oil was not affected for an extraction period of 30–120 min. The Sacha inchi oil was fractionated with supercritical CO2 to obtain an omega-3 concentrate oil without finding a considerable increase in the proportion of this compound, due to the narrow range in the carbon number of fatty acids present in the oil (16–18 carbons, making it difficult for selective separation.

  17. Supercritical CO2 extraction of oil and omega-3 concentrate from Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) from Antioquia, Colombia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torijano-Gutiérrez, S.A.; Triana-Maldonadoa, D.M.; Giraldo-Estradaa, C.

    2017-01-01

    Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) seeds were employed for oil extraction with supercritical CO2 at laboratory scale. The supercritical extraction was carried out at a temperature of 60 °C, pressure range of 400–500 bars and CO2 flow of 40–80 g/min. The maximum recovery was 58% in 180 min, favored by increasing the residence time of CO2 in the extraction tank. Subsequently, the process was evaluated at pilot scale reaching a maximum recovery of 60% in 105 min, with a temperature of 60 °C, pressure of 450 bars and CO2 flow of 1270 g/min. The fatty acid composition of the oil was not affected for an extraction period of 30–120 min. The Sacha inchi oil was fractionated with supercritical CO2 to obtain an omega-3 concentrate oil without finding a considerable increase in the proportion of this compound, due to the narrow range in the carbon number of fatty acids present in the oil (16–18 carbons), making it difficult for selective separation. [es

  18. Geothermal energy production with supercritical fluids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Donald W.

    2003-12-30

    There has been invented a method for producing geothermal energy using supercritical fluids for creation of the underground reservoir, production of the geothermal energy, and for heat transport. Underground reservoirs are created by pumping a supercritical fluid such as carbon dioxide into a formation to fracture the rock. Once the reservoir is formed, the same supercritical fluid is allowed to heat up and expand, then is pumped out of the reservoir to transfer the heat to a surface power generating plant or other application.

  19. Sensitivity analysis of CFD code FLUENT-12 for supercritical water in vertical bare tubes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Farah, A.; Haines, P.; Harvel, G.; Pioro, I., E-mail: amjad.farah@yahoo.com, E-mail: patrickjhaines@gmail.com, E-mail: glenn.harvel@uoit.ca, E-mail: igor.pioro@uoit.ca [Univ. of Ontario Inst. of Technology, Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science,Oshawa, Ontario (Canada)

    2012-07-01

    The ability to use FLUENT 12 or other CFD software to accurately model supercritical water flow through various geometries in diabatic conditions is integral to research involving coal-fired power plants as well as Supercritical Water-cooled Reactors (SCWR). The cost and risk associated with constructing supercritical water test loops are far too great to use in a university setting. Previous work has shown that FLUENT 12, specifically realizable k-ε model, can reasonably predict the bulk and wall temperature distributions of externally heated vertical bare tubes for cases with relatively low heat and mass fluxes. However, sizeable errors were observed for other cases, often those which involved large heat fluxes that produce deteriorated heat transfer (DHT) regimes. The goal of this research is to gain a more complete understanding of how FLUENT 12 models supercritical water cases and where errors can be expected to occur. One control case is selected where expected changes in bulk and wall temperatures occur and they match empirical correlations' predictions, and the operating parameters are varied individually to gauge their effect on FLUENT's solution. The model used is the realizable k-ε, and the parameters altered are inlet pressure, mass flux, heat flux, and inlet temperature. (author)

  20. Controlled Cold Helium Spill Test in the LHC Tunnel at CERN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koettig, T.; Casas-Cubillos, J.; Chorowski, M.; Dufay-Chanat, L.; Grabowski, M.; Jedrusyna, A.; Lindell, G.; Nonis, M.; Vauthier, N.; van Weelderen, R.; Winkler, T.; Bremer, J.

    The helium cooled magnets of the LHC particle accelerator are installed in a confined space, formed by a 27 km circumference 3.8 m diameter underground tunnel. The vacuum enclosures of the superconducting LHC magnets are protected by a lift plate against excessive overpressure created by eventual leaks from the magnet helium bath, or from the helium supply headers. A three-meter long no stay zone has been defined centered to these plates, based on earlier scale model studies, to protect the personnel against the consequences of an eventual opening of such a lift plate. More recently several simulation studies have been carried out modelling the propagation of the resulting helium/air mixture along the tunnel in case of such a cold helium release at a rate in the range of 1 kg/s. To validate the different scale models and simulation studies, real life mock-up tests have been performed in the LHC, releasing about 1000 liter of liquid helium under standard operational tunnel conditions. Data recorded during these tests include oxygen level, temperature and flow speed as well as video recordings, taken up- and downstream of the spill point (-100 m to +200 m) with respect to the ventilation direction in the LHC tunnel. The experimental set-up and measurement results are presented. Generic effects found during the tests will be discussed to allow the transposal to possible cold helium release cases in similar facilities.

  1. Management of Liver Cancer Argon-helium Knife Therapy with Functional Computer Tomography Perfusion Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hongbo; Shu, Shengjie; Li, Jinping; Jiang, Huijie

    2016-02-01

    The objective of this study was to observe the change in blood perfusion of liver cancer following argon-helium knife treatment with functional computer tomography perfusion imaging. Twenty-seven patients with primary liver cancer treated with argon-helium knife and were included in this study. Plain computer tomography (CT) and computer tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging were conducted in all patients before and after treatment. Perfusion parameters including blood flows, blood volume, hepatic artery perfusion fraction, hepatic artery perfusion, and hepatic portal venous perfusion were used for evaluating therapeutic effect. All parameters in liver cancer were significantly decreased after argon-helium knife treatment (p knife therapy. Therefore, CTP imaging would play an important role for liver cancer management followed argon-helium knife therapy. © The Author(s) 2014.

  2. Supersonic jets of hydrogen and helium for laser wakefield acceleration

    CERN Document Server

    Svensson, K.; Wojda, F.; Senje, L.; Burza, M.; Aurand, B.; Genoud, G.; Persson, A.; Wahlström, C.-G.; Lundh, O.

    2016-01-01

    The properties of laser wakefield accelerated electrons in supersonic gas flows of hydrogen and helium are investigated. At identical backing pressure, we find that electron beams emerging from helium show large variations in their spectral and spatial distributions, whereas electron beams accelerated in hydrogen plasmas show a higher degree of reproducibility. In an experimental investigation of the relation between neutral gas density and backing pressure, it is found that the resulting number density for helium is ∼30% higher than for hydrogen at the same backing pressure. The observed differences in electron beam properties between the two gases can thus be explained by differences in plasma electron density. This interpretation is verified by repeating the laser wakefield acceleration experiment using similar plasma electron densities for the two gases, which then yielded electron beams with similar properties.

  3. Supersonic jets of hydrogen and helium for laser wakefield acceleration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Svensson

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The properties of laser wakefield accelerated electrons in supersonic gas flows of hydrogen and helium are investigated. At identical backing pressure, we find that electron beams emerging from helium show large variations in their spectral and spatial distributions, whereas electron beams accelerated in hydrogen plasmas show a higher degree of reproducibility. In an experimental investigation of the relation between neutral gas density and backing pressure, it is found that the resulting number density for helium is ∼30% higher than for hydrogen at the same backing pressure. The observed differences in electron beam properties between the two gases can thus be explained by differences in plasma electron density. This interpretation is verified by repeating the laser wakefield acceleration experiment using similar plasma electron densities for the two gases, which then yielded electron beams with similar properties.

  4. Conceptual design of solid breeder blanket system cooled by supercritical water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Enoeda, Mikio; Akiba, Masato [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Naka, Ibaraki (Japan). Naka Fusion Research Establishment; Ohara, Yoshihiro [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Takasaki, Gunma (Japan). Takasaki Radiation Chemistry Research Establishment] [and others

    2001-12-01

    This report is a summary of the design works, which was discussed in the design workshop held in 2000 for the demonstration (DEMO) blanket aimed to strengthen the commercial competitiveness and technical feasibility simultaneously. The discussion of the Fusion Council in 1999 updated the assessment of the mission of DEMO blanket. Updated mission of the DEMO blanket is to be the prototype of the commercially competitive power plant. The DEMO blanket must supply the feasibility and experience of the total design of the power plant and the materials. From such standing point, the conceptual design study was performed to determine the updated strategy and goal of the R and D of the DEMO blanket which applies the supercritical water cooling proposed in A-SSTR, taking into account the recent progress of the plasma research and reactor engineering technology. The DEMO blanket applies the solid breeder materials and supercritical water cooling. The product tritium is purged out by helium gas stream in the breeder region. In the breeder region, the pebble bed concept was applied to withstand instable cracking of the breeder and multiplier materials in high neutron irradiation and high temperature operation. Inlet temperature of the coolant is planned to be 280degC and final outlet temperature is 510degC to obtain high energy conversion efficiency up to 43%. Reduced activation ferritic steel, F82H and ODS ferritic steel were selected as the structural material. Lithium ceramics, Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3} or Li{sub 2}O were selected as the breeder materials. Beryllium or its inter-metallic compound Be12Ti was selected as the neutron multiplier materials. Basic module structure was selected as the box type structure which enables the remote handling replacement of the module from in-vessel access. Dimension of the box is limited to 2 m x 2 m, or smaller, due to the dimension of the replacement port. In the supercritical water cooling, the high coolant temperature is the merit for

  5. Heat transfer to water at supercritical pressures in a circular and square annular flow geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Licht, Jeremy; Anderson, Mark; Corradini, Michael

    2008-01-01

    A supercritical water heat transfer facility has been built at the University of Wisconsin to study heat transfer in a circular and square annular flow channel. Operating conditions included mass velocities of 350-1425 kg/m 2 s, heat fluxes up to 1.0 MW/m 2 , and bulk inlet temperatures up to 400 o C; all at a pressure of 25 MPa. The accuracy and validity of selected heat transfer correlations and buoyancy criterion were compared with heat transfer measurements. Jackson's Nusselt correlation was able to best predict the test data, capturing 86% of the data within 25%. Watts Nusselt correlation showed a similar trend but under predicted measurements by 10% relative to Jackson's. Comparison of experimental results with results of previous investigators has shown general agreement with high mass velocity data. Low mass velocity data have provided some insight into the difficulty in applying these Nusselt correlations to a region of deteriorated heat transfer. Geometrical differences in heat transfer were seen when deterioration was present. Jackson's buoyancy criterion predicted the onset of deterioration while modifications were applied to Seo's Froude number based criterion

  6. Hydrogen production from high moisture content biomass in supercritical water

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Antal, M.J. Jr.; Xu, X. [Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States). Hawaii Natural Energy Inst.

    1998-08-01

    By mixing wood sawdust with a corn starch gel, a viscous paste can be produced that is easily delivered to a supercritical flow reactor by means of a cement pump. Mixtures of about 10 wt% wood sawdust with 3.65 wt% starch are employed in this work, which the authors estimate to cost about $0.043 per lb. Significant reductions in feed cost can be achieved by increasing the wood sawdust loading, but such an increase may require a more complex pump. When this feed is rapidly heated in a tubular flow reactor at pressures above the critical pressure of water (22 MPa), the sawdust paste vaporizes without the formation of char. A packed bed of carbon catalyst in the reactor operating at about 650 C causes the tarry vapors to react with water, producing hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and some methane with a trace of carbon monoxide. The temperature and history of the reactor`s wall influence the hydrogen-methane product equilibrium by catalyzing the methane steam reforming reaction. The water effluent from the reactor is clean. Other biomass feedstocks, such as the waste product of biodiesel production, behave similarly. Unfortunately, sewage sludge does not evidence favorable gasification characteristics and is not a promising feedstock for supercritical water gasification.

  7. Bio-oil production from biomass via supercritical fluid extraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Durak, Halil, E-mail: halildurak@yyu.edu.tr [Yuzuncu Yıl University, Vocational School of Health Services, 65080, Van (Turkey)

    2016-04-18

    Supercritical fluid extraction is used for producing bio-fuel from biomass. Supercritical fluid extraction process under supercritical conditions is the thermally disruption process of the lignocellulose or other organic materials at 250-400 °C temperature range under high pressure (4-5 MPa). Supercritical fluid extraction trials were performed in a cylindrical reactor (75 mL) in organic solvents (acetone, ethanol) under supercritical conditions with (calcium hydroxide, sodium carbonate) and without catalyst at the temperatures of 250, 275 and 300 °C. The produced liquids at 300 °C in supercritical liquefaction were analyzed and characterized by elemental, GC-MS and FT-IR. 36 and 37 different types of compounds were identified by GC-MS obtained in acetone and ethanol respectively.

  8. Bio-oil production from biomass via supercritical fluid extraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Durak, Halil

    2016-01-01

    Supercritical fluid extraction is used for producing bio-fuel from biomass. Supercritical fluid extraction process under supercritical conditions is the thermally disruption process of the lignocellulose or other organic materials at 250-400 °C temperature range under high pressure (4-5 MPa). Supercritical fluid extraction trials were performed in a cylindrical reactor (75 mL) in organic solvents (acetone, ethanol) under supercritical conditions with (calcium hydroxide, sodium carbonate) and without catalyst at the temperatures of 250, 275 and 300 °C. The produced liquids at 300 °C in supercritical liquefaction were analyzed and characterized by elemental, GC-MS and FT-IR. 36 and 37 different types of compounds were identified by GC-MS obtained in acetone and ethanol respectively.

  9. A robust and accurate numerical method for transcritical turbulent flows at supercritical pressure with an arbitrary equation of state

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawai, Soshi; Terashima, Hiroshi; Negishi, Hideyo

    2015-01-01

    This paper addresses issues in high-fidelity numerical simulations of transcritical turbulent flows at supercritical pressure. The proposed strategy builds on a tabulated look-up table method based on REFPROP database for an accurate estimation of non-linear behaviors of thermodynamic and fluid transport properties at the transcritical conditions. Based on the look-up table method we propose a numerical method that satisfies high-order spatial accuracy, spurious-oscillation-free property, and capability of capturing the abrupt variation in thermodynamic properties across the transcritical contact surface. The method introduces artificial mass diffusivity to the continuity and momentum equations in a physically-consistent manner in order to capture the steep transcritical thermodynamic variations robustly while maintaining spurious-oscillation-free property in the velocity field. The pressure evolution equation is derived from the full compressible Navier–Stokes equations and solved instead of solving the total energy equation to achieve the spurious pressure oscillation free property with an arbitrary equation of state including the present look-up table method. Flow problems with and without physical diffusion are employed for the numerical tests to validate the robustness, accuracy, and consistency of the proposed approach.

  10. Enhancing power cycle efficiency for a supercritical Brayton cycle power system using tunable supercritical gas mixtures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Steven A.; Pickard, Paul S.; Vernon, Milton E.; Radel, Ross F.

    2017-08-29

    Various technologies pertaining to tuning composition of a fluid mixture in a supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system are described herein. Compounds, such as Alkanes, are selectively added or removed from an operating fluid of the supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system to cause the critical temperature of the fluid to move up or down, depending upon environmental conditions. As efficiency of the supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system is substantially optimized when heat is rejected near the critical temperature of the fluid, dynamically modifying the critical temperature of the fluid based upon sensed environmental conditions improves efficiency of such a system.

  11. Canada's helium output rising fast

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1966-12-01

    About 12 months from now, International Helium Limited will be almost ready to start up Canada's second helium extraction plant at Mankota, in Saskatchewan's Wood Mountain area about 100 miles southwest of Moose Jaw. Another 80 miles north is Saskatchewan's (and Canada's) first helium plant, operated by Canadian Helium and sitting on a gas deposit at Wilhelm, 9 miles north of Swift Current. It contains almost 2% helium, some COD2U, and the rest nitrogen. One year in production was apparently enough to convince Canadian Helium that the export market (it sells most of its helium in W. Europe) can take a lot more than it's getting. Construction began this summer on an addition to the Swift Current plant that will raise its capacity from 12 to 36MMcf per yr when it goes on stream next spring. Six months later, International Helium's 40 MMcf per yr plant to be located about 4 miles from its 2 Wood Mountain wells will double Canada's helium output again.

  12. Diffusion of helium and nucleation-growth of helium-bubbles in metallic materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chonghong; Chen Keqin; Wang Yinshu

    2001-01-01

    Studies of diffusion and aggregation behaviour of helium in metallic materials are very important to solve the problem of helium embrittlement in structural materials used in the environment of nuclear power. Experimental studies on helium diffusion and aggregation in austenitic stainless steels in a wide temperature range have been performed in authors' research group and the main results obtained are briefly summarized. The mechanism of nucleation-growth of helium-bubbles has been discussed and some problems to be solved are also given

  13. Continuous-flow Heck synthesis of 4-methoxybiphenyl and methyl 4-methoxycinnamate in supercritical carbon dioxide expanded solvent solutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phei Li Lau

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The palladium metal catalysed Heck reaction of 4-iodoanisole with styrene or methyl acrylate has been studied in a continuous plug flow reactor (PFR using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2 as the solvent, with THF and methanol as modifiers. The catalyst was 2% palladium on silica and the base was diisopropylethylamine due to its solubility in the reaction solvent. No phosphine co-catalysts were used so the work-up procedure was simplified and the green credentials of the reaction were enhanced. The reactions were studied as a function of temperature, pressure and flow rate and in the case of the reaction with styrene compared against a standard, stirred autoclave reaction. Conversion was determined and, in the case of the reaction with styrene, the isomeric product distribution was monitored by GC. In the case of the reaction with methyl acrylate the reactor was scaled from a 1.0 mm to 3.9 mm internal diameter and the conversion and turnover frequency determined. The results show that the Heck reaction can be effectively performed in scCO2 under continuous flow conditions with a palladium metal, phosphine-free catalyst, but care must be taken when selecting the reaction temperature in order to ensure the appropriate isomer distribution is achieved. Higher reaction temperatures were found to enhance formation of the branched terminal alkene isomer as opposed to the linear trans-isomer.

  14. Verification test for helium panel of cryopump for DIII-D advanced divertor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baxi, C.B.; Laughon, G.J.; Langhorn, A.R.; Schaubel, K.M.; Smith, J.P.; Gootgeld, A.M.; Campbell, G.L.; Menon, M.M.

    1991-10-01

    It is planned to install a cryogenic pump in the lower divertor portion of the D3-D tokamak with a pumping speed of 50000 ell/s and an exhaust of 2670 Pa-ell/s (20 Torr-ell s). A coaxial counter flow configuration has been chosen for the helium panel of this cryogenic pump. This paper evaluates cooldown rates and fluid stability of this configuration. A prototypic test was performed at General Atomics (GA) to increase confidence in the design. It was concluded that the helium panel cooldown rate agreed quite well with analytical prediction and was within acceptable limits. The design flow rate proved stable and two-phase pressure drop can be predicted quite accurately. 8 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

  15. Fuel and helium confinement in fusion reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houlberg, W.A.; Attenberger, S.E.

    1993-01-01

    An expanded macroscopic model for particle confinement is used to investigate both fuel and helium confinement in reactor plasmas. The authors illustrate the relative effects of external sources of fuel, divertor pumping, and wall and divertory recycle on core, edge and scrape-off layer densities by using separate particle confinement times for open-quote core close-quote fueling (deep pellet or beam penetration, τ c ), open-quote shallow close-quote fueling (shallow pellet penetration or neutral atoms that penetrate the scrape-off layer, τ s ) and fueling in the scrape-off layer (τ sol ). Because τ s is determined by the parallel flow velocity and characteristic distance to the divertor plate, it can be orders of magnitude lower than either τ c or τ sol . A dense scrape-off region, desirable for reduced divertor erosion, leads to a high fraction of the recycled neutrals being ionized in the scrape-off region and poor core fueling efficiency. The overall fueling efficiency can then be dramatically improved with either shallow or deep auxillary fueling. Helium recycle is nearly always coupled to the scrape-off region and does not lead to strong core accumulation unless the helium pumping efficiency is much less than the fuel pumping efficiency, or the plasma preferentially retains helium over hydrogenic ions. Differences between the results of this model, single-τ p macroscopic models, and 1-D and 2-D models are discussed in terms of assumptions and boundary conditions

  16. High temperature and high performance light water cooled reactors operating at supercritical pressure, research and development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oka, Y.; Koshizuka, S.; Katsumura, Y.; Yamada, K.; Shiga, S.; Moriya, K.; Yoshida, S.; Takahashi, H.

    2003-01-01

    The concept of supercritical-pressure, once-through coolant cycle nuclear power plant (SCR) was developed at the University of Tokyo. The research and development (R and D) started worldwide. This paper summarized the conceptual design and R and D in Japan. The big advantage of the SCR concept is that the temperatures of major components such as reactor pressure vessel, control rod drive mechanisms, containments, coolant pumps, main steam piping and turbines are within the temperatures of the components of LWR and supercritical fossil fired power plants (FPP) in spite of the high outlet coolant temperature. The experience of these components of LWR and supercritical fossil fired power plants will be fully utilized for SCR. The high temperature, supercritical-pressure light water reactor is the logical evolution of LWR. Boiling evolved from circular boilers, water tube boilers and once-through boilers. It is the reactor version of the once-through boiler. The development from LWR to SCR follows the history of boilers. The goal of the R and D should be the capital cost reduction that cannot be achieved by the improvement of LWR. The reactor can be used for hydrogen production either by catalysis and chemical decomposition of low quality hydrocarbons in supercritical water. The reactor is compatible with tight lattice fast core for breeders due to low outlet coolant density, small coolant flow rate and high head coolant pumps

  17. Studies of super-critical CO2 gas turbine power generation fast reactor (Contract research, translated document)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kisohara, Naoyuki; Kotake, Shoji; Sakamoto, Toshihiko

    2008-08-01

    The following studies have been executed for a super-critical CO 2 turbine system of an SFR. (1) Preliminary design of a SFR adopting a super-critical CO 2 cycle turbine. Preliminary system design of an SFR that adopts a super-critical CO 2 cycle turbine has been made. This SFR system eliminates secondary sodium circuits because of no sodium/water reaction. The power generation efficiency of the SFR has been estimated to be approximately 42%. Compared to a conventional SFR that adopts a steam Rankine cycle with secondary sodium circuits, the volume of the reactor building of the SC-CO 2 SFR has been reduced by 20%. (2) Thermal-hydraulic experiment of a super-critical CO 2 cycle loop. A test loop that simulates a super-critical CO 2 whole cycle was fabricated. An electrical heater was used for a heat source of the test loop. The high efficiency of the compressor has been experimentally confirmed near the super-critical region. The temperature efficiencies of PCHE recuperators have been approximately 98-99% (hot leg), and the recuperators have exhibited high heat transfer performance. No significant flow instability has been observed in the test loop operation. (3) Liquid sodium/CO 2 reaction test. Reaction tests have been executed by contacting a small amount of liquid sodium and CO 2 gas. Continuous sodium/CO 2 reactions with flame have occurred at the temperature higher than 570-580degC. Main reaction products have been Na 2 CO 3 and CO gas. The reaction heat has been also measured to be 50-75kJ/Na-mol. (4) Computer code safety analysis for tube failure of sodium/CO 2 heat exchanger. Safety calculation has been done for one double ended guillotine tube failure (1 DEG) of a helical coil type sodium/CO 2 heat exchanger. The analysis has showed that the maximum pressure in the primary sodium circuit is 0.28MPa due to a gas leak. It has been, however, below the allowed level of the primary circuit structural integrity. The void reactivity of the reactor core has

  18. Measurements of Heat-Transfer and Friction Coefficients for Helium Flowing in a Tube at Surface Temperatures up to 5900 Deg R

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Maynard F.; Kirchgessner, Thomas A.

    1959-01-01

    Measurements of average heat transfer and friction coefficients and local heat transfer coefficients were made with helium flowing through electrically heated smooth tubes with length-diameter ratios of 60 and 92 for the following range of conditions: Average surface temperature from 1457 to 4533 R, Reynolds numbe r from 3230 to 60,000, heat flux up to 583,200 Btu per hr per ft2 of heat transfer area, and exit Mach numbe r up to 1.0. The results indicate that, in the turbulent range of Reynolds number, good correlation of the local heat transfer coefficients is obtained when the physical properties and density of helium are evaluated at the surface temperature. The average heat transfer coefficients are best correlated on the basis that the coefficient varies with [1 + (L/D))(sup -0,7)] and that the physical properties and density are evaluated at the surface temperature. The average friction coefficients for the tests with no heat addition are in complete agreement with the Karman-Nikuradse line. The average friction coefficients for heat addition are in poor agreement with the accepted line.

  19. The use of cryogenic helium for classical turbulence: Promises and hurdles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niemela, J.J.; Sreenivasan, K.R.

    2006-12-01

    Fluid turbulence is a paradigm for non-linear systems with many degrees of freedom and important in numerous applications. Because the analytical understanding of the equations of motion is poor, experiments and, lately, direct numerical simulations of the equations of motion, have been fundamental to making progress. In this vein, a concerted experimental effort has been made to take advantage of the unique properties of liquid and gaseous helium at low temperatures near or below the critical point. We discuss the promise and impact of results from recent helium experiments and identify the current technical barriers which can perhaps be removed by low temperature researchers. We focus mainly on classical flows that utilize helium above the lambda line, but touch on those aspects below that exhibit quasi-classical behavior. (author)

  20. Supercritical Fluids Processing of Biomass to Chemicals and Fuels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olson, Norman K. [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

    2011-09-28

    The main objective of this project is to develop and/or enhance cost-effective methodologies for converting biomass into a wide variety of chemicals, fuels, and products using supercritical fluids. Supercritical fluids will be used both to perform reactions of biomass to chemicals and products as well as to perform extractions/separations of bio-based chemicals from non-homogeneous mixtures. This work supports the Biomass Program’s Thermochemical Platform Goals. Supercritical fluids are a thermochemical approach to processing biomass that, while aligned with the Biomass Program’s interests in gasification and pyrolysis, offer the potential for more precise and controllable reactions. Indeed, the literature with respect to the use of water as a supercritical fluid frequently refers to “supercritical water gasification” or “supercritical water pyrolysis.”

  1. Performance of the Helium Circulation System on a Commercialized MEG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takeda, T; Miyazaki, T; Okamoto, M; Katagiri, K

    2012-01-01

    We report the performance of a helium circulation system (HCS) mounted on a MEG (Magnetoencephalography) at Nagoya University, Japan. This instrument is the first commercialized version of an HCS. The HCS collects warm helium gas at approximately 300 K and then cools it to approximately 40 K. The gas is returned to the neck tube of a Dewar of the MEG to keep it cold. It also collects helium gas in the region just above the liquid helium surface while it is still cold, re-liquefies the gas and returns it to the Dewar. A special transfer tube (TT) of approximately 3 m length was developed to allow for dual helium streams. This tube separates the HCS using a MEG to reduce magnetic noise. A refiner was incorporated to effectively collect contaminating gases by freezing them. The refiner was equipped with an electric heater to remove the frozen contaminants as gases into the air. A gas flow controller was also developed, which automatically controlled the heater and electric valves to clean up contamination. The developed TT exhibited a very low heat inflow of less than 0.1 W/m to the liquid helium, ensuring efficient operation. The insert tube diameter, which was 1.5 in. was reduced to a standard 0.5 in. size. This dimensional change enabled the HCS to mount onto any commercialized MEG without any modifications to the MEG. The HCS can increase liquid helium in the Dewar by at least 3 liters/Day using two GM cryocoolers (SRDK-415D, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.). The noise levels were virtually the same as before this installation.

  2. Transport properties of supercritical carbon dioxide

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lavanchy, F.; Fourcade, E.; de Koeijer, E.A.; Wijers, J.G.; Meyer, T.; Keurentjes, J.T.F.; Kemmere, M.F.; Meyer, T.

    2005-01-01

    Recently, supercritical fluids have emerged as more sustainable alternatives for the organic solvents often used in polymer processes. This is the first book emphasizing the potential of supercritical carbon dioxide for polymer processes from an engineering point of view. It develops a

  3. Thermal optimization of the helium-cooled power leads for the SSC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Demko, J.A.; Schiesser, W.E.; Carcagno, R.; McAshan, M.; McConeghy, R.

    1992-03-01

    The optimum thermal design of the power leads for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) will minimize the amount of Carnot work (which is a combination of refrigeration and liquefaction work) required. This optimization can be accomplished by the judicious selection of lead length and diameter. Even though an optimum set of dimensions is found, the final design must satisfy other physical constraints such as maximum allowable heat leak and helium vapor mass flow rate. A set of corresponding lengths and diameters has been determined that meets these requirements for the helium vapor-cooled, spiral-fin power lead design of the SSC. Early efforts by McFee and Mallon investigated optimizing power leads for cryogenic applications with no convection cooling. Later designs utilized the boiled-off helium vapor to cool the lead. One notable design for currents up to several thousand amps is presented by Efferson based on a series of recommendations discussed by Deiness. Buyanov presents many theoretical models and design formulate but does not demonstrate an approach to thermally optimizing the design of a vapor-cooled lead. A method for optimizing superconducting magnet current leads is described by Maehata et al. The approach assumes that the helium boil-off caused by heat conduction along with power lead into the low-temperature helium is used to cool the lead. The optimum solution is found when the heat flow at the cold end is minimized.. In this study, a detailed numerical thermal model of a power lead design for the SSC has been developed. It was adapted from the dynamic model developed by Schiesser. This model was used to determine the optimum dimensions that minimize the Carnot refrigeration and liquefaction work due to the leads

  4. He flow rate measurements on the engineering model for the Astro-H Soft X-ray Spectrometer dewar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitsuishi, I.; Ezoe, Y.; Ishikawa, K.; Ohashi, T.; Fujimoto, R.; Mitsuda, K.; Tsunematsu, S.; Yoshida, S.; Kanao, K.; Murakami, M.; DiPirro, M.; Shirron, P.

    2014-11-01

    The sixth X-ray Japanese astronomy satellite, namely Astro-H, will be launched in 2015. The Soft X-ray Spectrometer onboard the Astro-H is a 6 × 6 X-ray microcalorimeter array and provides us with both a high energy resolution of 3 years, which consequently requires that the vapor flow rate out of the helium tank should be very small knife edge devices to retain the liquid helium under zero gravity and safely vent the small amount of the helium vapor. We measured helium mass flow rates from the helium tank equipped in the engineering model dewar. We tilted the dewar at an angle of 75° so that one side of the porous plug located at the top of the helium tank attaches the liquid helium and the porous plug separates the liquid and vapor helium by thermomechanical effect. Helium mass flow rates were measured at helium tank temperatures of 1.3, 1.5 and 1.9 K. We confirmed that resultant mass flow rates are in good agreement within the systematic error or low compared to component test results and achieve all the requirements. The film flow suppression also worked normally. Therefore, we concluded that the SXS helium vent system satisfactorily performs integrated into the dewar.

  5. Substantial rate enhancements of the esterification reaction of phthalic anhydride with methanol at high pressure and using supercritical CO2 as a co-solvent in a glass microreactor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Benito-Lopez, F.; Tiggelaar, Roald M.; Salblut, K.; Huskens, Jurriaan; Egberink, Richard J.M.; Reinhoudt, David; Gardeniers, Johannes G.E.; Verboom, Willem

    2007-01-01

    The esterification reaction of phthalic anhydride with methanol was performed at different temperatures in a continuous flow glass microreactor at pressures up to 110 bar and using supercritical CO2 as a co-solvent. The design is such that supercritical CO2 can be generated inside the microreactor.

  6. Preparation of Cefquinome Nanoparticles by Using the Supercritical Antisolvent Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Kefeng

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The supercritical antisolvent process was used successfully to prepare nanoparticles of cefquinome. These particles were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM and their average diameter was measured by laser particle size analyzer. In the experiments, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO was selected as solvent to dissolve cefquinome sulfate. It was confirmed by orthogonal experiments that the concentration of solution was the primary factor in this process followed by feeding speed of solution, precipitation pressure, and precipitation temperature. Moreover, the optimal conditions of preparing nanoparticles of cefquinome by supercritical antisolvent process were that solution concentration was 100 mg/mL, solution flow speed was 1.5 mL/min, operating pressure was 13 Mpa, and operating temperature was 33°C. Confirmatory experiment was conducted under this condition. It was found that the appearance of particles was flakes and the average diameter of particles was 0.71 microns. Finally, influence law of individual factor on particle size was investigated by univariate analysis.

  7. Some research and development on power plants with helium gas turbine units

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaplan, M.P.

    1983-01-01

    Research and development projects pursued at the S. M. Kirov Kharkov Turbine Factory Production Association for Nuclear Turbomachinery Manufacturing have probed into prospective use of helium as the working medium in nuclear power facilities. The projects under study are compared mainly in terms of heat efficiency. Solutions are also being sought for problems centering around high efficiency in helium turbocompressors combined with shortening of axial dimensions. Different types of power plants are being compared with attention given to features of the flow passages of turbocompressors. The projects were developed for helium temperatures and pressures downstream of the reactor 950 0 C and 4.8 MPa, and thermal reactor output 2250 MW(th). The reactor is assumed to be served by two turbine plants in the turbocompressor designs

  8. Supercritical boiler material selection using fuzzy analytic network process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saikat Ranjan Maity

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The recent development of world is being adversely affected by the scarcity of power and energy. To survive in the next generation, it is thus necessary to explore the non-conventional energy sources and efficiently consume the available sources. For efficient exploitation of the existing energy sources, a great scope lies in the use of Rankin cycle-based thermal power plants. Today, the gross efficiency of Rankin cycle-based thermal power plants is less than 28% which has been increased up to 40% with reheating and regenerative cycles. But, it can be further improved up to 47% by using supercritical power plant technology. Supercritical power plants use supercritical boilers which are able to withstand a very high temperature (650-720˚C and pressure (22.1 MPa while producing superheated steam. The thermal efficiency of a supercritical boiler greatly depends on the material of its different components. The supercritical boiler material should possess high creep rupture strength, high thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion, high specific heat and very high temperature withstandability. This paper considers a list of seven supercritical boiler materials whose performance is evaluated based on seven pivotal criteria. Given the intricacy and difficulty of this supercritical boiler material selection problem having interactions and interdependencies between different criteria, this paper applies fuzzy analytic network process to select the most appropriate material for a supercritical boiler. Rene 41 is the best supercritical boiler material, whereas, Haynes 230 is the worst preferred choice.

  9. Thermodynamic Optimization of Supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton Cycles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rhim, Dong-Ryul; Park, Sung-Ho; Kim, Su-Hyun; Yeom, Choong-Sub [Institute for Advanced Engineering, Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-05-15

    The supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle has been studied for nuclear applications, mainly for one of the alternative power conversion systems of the sodium cooled fast reactor, since 1960's. Although the supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle has not been expected to show higher efficiency at lower turbine inlet temperature over the conventional steam Rankine cycle, the higher density of supercritical CO{sub 2} like a liquid in the supercritical region could reduce turbo-machinery sizes, and the potential problem of sodium-water reaction with the sodium cooled fast reactor might be solved with the use of CO{sub 2} instead of water. The supercritical CO{sub 2} recompression Brayton cycle was proposed for the better thermodynamic efficiency than for the simple supercritical CO{sub 2} Brayton cycle. Thus this paper presents the efficiencies of the supercritical CO{sub 2} recompression Brayton cycle along with several decision variables for the thermodynamic optimization of the supercritical CO{sub 2} recompression Brayton cycle. The analytic results in this study show that the system efficiency reaches its maximum value at a compressor outlet pressure of 200 bars and a recycle fraction of 30 %, and the lower minimum temperature approach at the two heat exchangers shows higher system efficiency as expected.

  10. Helium release rates and ODH calculations from RHIC magnet cooling line failure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liaw, C.J.; Than, Y.; Tuozzolo, J.

    2011-03-28

    A catastrophic failure of the magnet cooling lines, similar to the LHC superconducting bus failure incident, could discharge cold helium into the RHIC tunnel and cause an Oxygen Deficiency Hazard (ODH) problem. A SINDA/FLUINT{reg_sign} model, which simulated the 4.5K/4 atm helium flowing through the magnet cooling system distribution lines, then through a line break into the insulating vacuum volumes and discharging via the reliefs into the RHIC tunnel, had been developed. Arc flash energy deposition and heat load from the ambient temperature cryostat surfaces are included in the simulations. Three typical areas: the sextant arc, the Triplet/DX/D0 magnets, and the injection area, had been analyzed. Results, including helium discharge rates, helium inventory loss, and the resulting oxygen concentration in the RHIC tunnel area, are reported. Good agreement had been achieved when comparing the simulation results, a RHIC sector depressurization test measurement, and some simple analytical calculations.

  11. Supercritical Fluid Chromatographic Separation of Dimethylpolysiloxane Polymer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pyo, Dong Jin; Lim, Chang Hyun [Kangwon National University, Chuncheon (Korea, Republic of)

    2005-02-15

    Water was used as a polar modifier and a μ-porasil column as a saturator column. The μ-porasil column was inserted between the pump outlet and the injection valve. During the passage of the supercritical fluid mobile phase through the silica column, a polar modifier (water) can be dissolved in the pressurized supercritical fluid. Dimethylpolysiloxane polymer has been known as more polar polymer than polystyrene polymer. Dimethylpolysiloxane polymer has never been separated using water modified mobile phase. In this paper, using a μ-porasil column as a saturator column, excellent supercritical fluid chromatograms of dimethylpolysiloxane oligomers were obtained. The use of compressed (dense) gases and supercritical fluids as chromatographic mobile phases in conjunction with liquid chromatographic (LC)-type packed columns was first reported by Klesper et al. in 1962. During its relatively short history, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has become an attractive alternative to GC and LC in certain industrially important applications. SFC gives the advantage of high efficiency and allows the analysis of nonvolatile or thermally labile mixtures.

  12. Supercritical Fluid Chromatographic Separation of Dimethylpolysiloxane Polymer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pyo, Dong Jin; Lim, Chang Hyun

    2005-01-01

    Water was used as a polar modifier and a μ-porasil column as a saturator column. The μ-porasil column was inserted between the pump outlet and the injection valve. During the passage of the supercritical fluid mobile phase through the silica column, a polar modifier (water) can be dissolved in the pressurized supercritical fluid. Dimethylpolysiloxane polymer has been known as more polar polymer than polystyrene polymer. Dimethylpolysiloxane polymer has never been separated using water modified mobile phase. In this paper, using a μ-porasil column as a saturator column, excellent supercritical fluid chromatograms of dimethylpolysiloxane oligomers were obtained. The use of compressed (dense) gases and supercritical fluids as chromatographic mobile phases in conjunction with liquid chromatographic (LC)-type packed columns was first reported by Klesper et al. in 1962. During its relatively short history, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has become an attractive alternative to GC and LC in certain industrially important applications. SFC gives the advantage of high efficiency and allows the analysis of nonvolatile or thermally labile mixtures

  13. Introduction to supercritical fluids a spreadsheet-based approach

    CERN Document Server

    Smith, Richard; Peters, Cor

    2013-01-01

    This text provides an introduction to supercritical fluids with easy-to-use Excel spreadsheets suitable for both specialized-discipline (chemistry or chemical engineering student) and mixed-discipline (engineering/economic student) classes. Each chapter contains worked examples, tip boxes and end-of-the-chapter problems and projects. Part I covers web-based chemical information resources, applications and simplified theory presented in a way that allows students of all disciplines to delve into the properties of supercritical fluids and to design energy, extraction and materials formation systems for real-world processes that use supercritical water or supercritical carbon dioxide. Part II takes a practical approach and addresses the thermodynamic framework, equations of state, fluid phase equilibria, heat and mass transfer, chemical equilibria and reaction kinetics of supercritical fluids. Spreadsheets are arranged as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) functions and macros that are completely (source code) ...

  14. Screw compressor system for industrial-scale helium refrigerators or industrial ammonia screw compressors for helium refrigeration systems; Schraubenkompressor-System fuer Helium-Grosskaelteanlage oder Ammoniak-Schraubenverdichter aus Industrieanwendungen fuer Helium-Kaelteanlagen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fredrich, O.; Mosemann, D.; Zaytsev, D. [GEA Grasso GmbH Refrigeration Technology, Berlin (Germany)

    2007-07-01

    Material characteristics, requirements and measured data of ammonia and helium compression are compared. The compressor lines for industrial ammonia and helium refrigerators are presented, and important characteristics of the compressors are explained. The test stand for performance measurements with helium and ammonia is described, and results are presented. In spite of the different characteristics of the fluids, the compressor-specific efficiencies (supply characteristic, quality characteristic) were found to be largely identical. The values calculated for helium on the basis of NH3 test runs were found to be realistic, which means that the decades of experience with ammonia in industrial applications can be applied to helium compression as well. The design of screw compressor aggregates (skids) in industrial refrigeration is discussed and illustrated by examples. (orig.)

  15. Squalene Extraction by Supercritical Fluids from Traditionally Puffed Amaranthus hypochondriacus Seeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teresa Rosales-García

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Extraction of squalene, a potent natural antioxidant, from puffed A. hypochondriacus seeds was performed by supercritical fluid extraction (SCFE; besides, to have a blank for comparison, extraction was performed also by Soxhlet method using organic solvents (hexane. Chemical proximal composition and seed morphology were determined in raw, puffed, and SCFE-extracted seeds. Extracts were obtained with a 500 mL capacity commercial supercritical extractor and performed between 10 and 30 MPa at 313, 323, and 333 K under constant CO2 flow of 0.18 kg CO2/h during 8 h. The squalene content was determined and the fatty acids present in the extracts were identified by GC-MS. The extract obtained by SCFE from puffed amaranth seeds reached 460 ± 28.1 g/kg squalene in oily extract at 313 K/20 MPa.

  16. Heat transport and surface heat transfer with helium in rotating channels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schnapper, C.

    1978-06-01

    Heat transport and surface heat transfer with helium in rotating radially arranged channels were experimentally studied with regard to cooling of large turbogenerators with superconducting windings. Measurements with thermosiphon and thermosiphon loops of different channel diameters were performed, and results are presented. The thermodynamic state of the helium in a rotating thermosiphon and the mass flow rate in a thermosiphon loop is characterized by formulas. Heat transport by directed convection in thermosiphon loops is found to be more efficient 12 cm internal convection in thermosiphons. Steady state is reached sooner in thermosiphon loops than in thermosiphons, when heat load suddenly changes. In a very large centrifugal field single-phase heat transfer with natural and forced convection is described by similar formulas which are also applicable 10 thermosiphons in gravitation field or to heat transfer to non-rotating helium. (orig.) [de

  17. Simulation of Thermal Hydraulic at Supercritical Pressures with APROS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kurki, Joona [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, FI02044 VTT (Finland)

    2008-07-01

    The proposed concepts for the fourth generation of nuclear reactors include a reactor operating with water at thermodynamically supercritical state, the Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR). For the design and safety demonstrations of such a reactor, the possibility to accurately simulate the thermal hydraulics of the supercritical coolant is an absolute prerequisite. For this purpose, the one-dimensional two-phase thermal hydraulics solution of APROS process simulation software was developed to function at the supercritical pressure region. Software modifications included the redefinition of some parameters that have physical significance only at the subcritical pressures, improvement of the steam tables, and addition of heat transfer and friction correlations suitable for the supercritical pressure region. (author)

  18. Effects of process parameters on peanut skins extract and CO2 diffusivity by supercritical fluid extraction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Putra, N. R.; Yian, L. N.; Nasir, H. M.; Idham, Z. Binti; Yunus, M. A. C.

    2018-03-01

    Peanut skins (Arachis hypogea) are an agricultural waste product which has received much attention because they contain high nutritional values and can be potentially utilized in difference industries. At present, only a few studies have been conducted to study the effects of parameters on the peanut skins oil extraction. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the best extraction condition in order to obtain the highest extract yield using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) with co-solvent Ethanol as compared to Soxhlet extraction method. Diffusivity of carbon dioxide in supercritical fluid extraction was determined using Crank model. The mean particle size used in this study was 425 µm. The supercritical carbon dioxide was performed at temperature (40 – 70 °C), flow rate of co-solvent ethanol (0 - 7.5% Vethanol/Vtotal), and extraction pressure (10 – 30 MPa) were used in this studies. The results showed that the percentage of oil yields and effective diffusivity increase as the pressure, rate of co-solvent, and temperature increased.

  19. Counter flow induced draft cooling tower option for supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pidaparti, Sandeep R., E-mail: sandeep.pidaparti@gmail.com [Georgia Institute of Technology, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Atlanta, GA 30332 (United States); Moisseytsev, Anton; Sienicki, James J. [Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States); Ranjan, Devesh, E-mail: devesh.ranjan@me.gatech.edu [Georgia Institute of Technology, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Atlanta, GA 30332 (United States)

    2015-12-15

    Highlights: • A code was developed to investigate the various aspects of using cooling tower for S-CO{sub 2} Brayton cycles. • Cooling tower option to reject heat is quantitatively compared to the direct water cooling and dry air cooling options. • Optimum water conditions resulting in minimal plant capital cost per unit power consumption are calculated. - Abstract: A simplified qualitative analysis was performed to investigate the possibility of using counter flow induced draft cooling tower option to reject heat from the supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle for advanced fast reactor (AFR)-100 and advanced burner reactor (ABR)-1000 plants. A code was developed to estimate the tower dimensions, power and water consumption, and to perform economic analysis. The code developed was verified against a vendor provided quotation and is used to understand the effect of ambient air and water conditions on the design of cooling tower. The calculations indicated that there exists optimum water conditions for given ambient air conditions which will result in minimum power consumption, thereby increasing the cycle efficiency. A cost-based optimization technique is used to estimate the optimum water conditions which will improve the overall plant economics. A comparison of different cooling options for the S-CO{sub 2} cycle indicated that the cooling tower option is a much more practical and economical option compared to the dry air cooling or direct water cooling options.

  20. Lift-off process for deep-submicron-size junctions using supercritical CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukushima, A.; Kubota, H.; Yuasa, S.; Takahachi, T.; Kadoriku, S.; Miyake, K.

    2007-01-01

    Deep-submicron-size (∼100-nm-size) junctions are a key element to investigate spin-torque transfer phenomena such as current induced magnetization reversal or the spin-torque diode effect. In the fabrication of submicron-size junctions using an etching method, the lift-off process after the etching process tends to be difficult as the size of junctions shrinks. In this study, we present a new lift-off process using supercritical CO 2 . In this process, the samples were immersed in solvent (mixture of N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone and isopropanol), and pressurized by CO 2 gas. The CO 2 gas then went into supercritical phase and the solvent was removed by a continuous flow of CO 2 . We obtained considerable yield rate (success ratio in lift-off process) of more than 50% for the samples down to 100-nm-size junctions

  1. Self-trapping of helium in metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, W.D.; Bisson, C.L.; Baskes, M.I.

    1981-01-01

    Atomistic calculations are presented which demonstrate that helium atoms in a metal lattice are able to cluster with each other, producing vacancies and nearby self-interstitial defects. Even a small number of helium atoms is found to be sufficient to create these large distortions. As few as five interstitial helium can spontaneously produce a lattice vacancy and nearby self-interstitial. An eight-helium-atom cluster gives rise to two such defects, and 16 helium atoms to more than five self-interstitial vacancy pairs. It was noted that the self-interstitials prefer to agglomerate on the same ''side'' of the helium cluster rather than to spread themselves out uniformly. The binding energy of each additional helium atom to these clusters increases with helium concentration and the trap is apparently unsaturable. A rate theory using these atomistic binding energies has been used to calculate the kinetics of helium-bubble nucleation and growth. The results are consistent with measurements of the properties of helium resulting from tritium decay

  2. Theoretical and experimental studies on transient forced convection heat transfer of helium gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Qiusheng; Fukuda, Katsuya; Shibahara, Makoto

    2008-01-01

    Forced convection transient heat transfer for helium gas at various periods of exponential increase of heat input to a horizontal cylinder and a plate (ribbon) one was experimentally and theoretically studied. In the experimental studies, the authors measured heat flux, surface temperature, and transient heat transfer coefficients for forced convection flow of helium gas over a horizontal cylinder and a plate (ribbon) one under wide experimental conditions. Empirical correlations for quasi-steady-state heat transfer and transient heat transfer were obtained based on the experimental data. In the theoretical study, transient heat transfer was numerically solved based on a turbulent flow model. The values of numerical solution for surface temperature and heat flux were compared and discussed with authors' experimental data. (author)

  3. Design, fabrication, and testing of a helium-cooled module for the ITER divertor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baxi, C.B.; Smith, J.P.; Youchison, D.

    1994-08-01

    The International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER) will have a single-null divertor with total power flow of 200 MW and a peak heat flux of about 5 MW/m 2 . The reference coolant for the divertor is water. However, helium is a viable alternative and offers advantages from safety considerations, such as excellent radiation stability and chemical inertness. In order to prove the feasibility of helium cooling at ITER relevant heat flux conditions, General Atomics designed, fabricated, and tested a helium-cooled divertor module. The module was made from dispersion strengthened copper, with a heat flux surface 25 mm wide and 80 mm long, designed for twice the ITER divertor heat flux. Different techniques were examined to enhance the heat transfer, which in turn reduced the flow and pumping power required to cool the module. It was concluded that an extended surface was the most practical solution. An optimization study was performed to find the best extended surface parameters. The optimum extended surface geometry consisted of fins: 10 mm high, 0.4 mm thick with a 1 mm pitch. It was estimated to require a pumping power of 150 W to remove 20 kW of power. This is more than an order of magnitude reduction in pumping power requirement, compared to smooth surface. The module was fabricated by electric discharge machining (EDM) process. The testing was carried out at SNLA during August 1993. The testing confirmed the design calculations. The peak heat flux during the test was 10 MW/m 2 applied over a surface area of 20 cm 2 . The pumping power calculated from flow rate and pressure drop measurement was about 160 W, which was less than 1% of the power removed. It is planned to test the module to higher temperature limits and higher heat fluxes during coming months. As a result of this effort we conclude that helium cooling of the ITER divertor is feasible without requiring a very large helium pressure or a large pumping power

  4. Measurements of the purge helium pressure drop across pebble beds packed with lithium orthosilicate and glass pebbles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abou-Sena, Ali, E-mail: ali.abou-sena@kit.edu; Arbeiter, Frederik; Boccaccini, Lorenzo V.; Schlindwein, Georg

    2014-10-15

    Highlights: • The objective is to measure the purge helium pressure drop across various HCPB-relevant pebble beds packed with lithium orthosilicate and glass pebbles. • The purge helium pressure drop significantly increases with decreasing the pebbles diameter from one run to another. • At the same superficial velocity, the pressure drop is directly proportional to the helium inlet pressure. • The Ergun's equation can successfully model the purge helium pressure drop for the HCPB-relevant pebble beds. • The measured values of the purge helium pressure drop for the lithium orthosilicate pebble bed will support the design of the purge gas system for the HCPB breeder units. - Abstract: The lithium orthosilicate pebble beds of the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) blanket are purged by helium to transport the produced tritium to the tritium extraction system. The pressure drop of the purge helium has a direct impact on the required pumping power and is a limiting factor for the purge mass flow. Therefore, the objective of this study is to measure the helium pressure drop across various HCPB-relevant pebble beds packed with lithium orthosilicate and glass pebbles. The pebble bed was formed by packing the pebbles into a stainless steel cylinder (ID = 30 mm and L = 120 mm); then it was integrated into a gas loop that has four variable-speed side-channel compressors to regulate the helium mass flow. The static pressure was measured at two locations (100 mm apart) along the pebble bed and at inlet and outlet of the pebble bed. The results demonstrated that: (i) the pressure drop significantly increases with decreasing the pebbles diameter, (ii) for the same superficial velocity, the pressure drop is directly proportional to the inlet pressure, and (iii) predictions of Ergun's equation agree well with the experimental results. The measured pressure drop for the lithium orthosilicate pebble bed will support the design of the purge gas system for the HCPB.

  5. Heat transfer test in a tube using CO2 at supercritical pressures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hwan Yeol; Kim, Hyungrae; Song, Jin Ho; Cho, Bong Hyun; Bae, Yoon Yeong

    2005-01-01

    Heat transfer test facility, which is named as SPHINX (Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt Generation), has been constructed in KAERI for the study of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a single tube, single rod and rod bundle at supercritical CO 2 conditions. The tests with supercritical water are difficult it terms of cost and effort, since the critical pressure and temperature of water are as high as 22.12 MPa and 374.14degC. As a substitute for water, CO 2 is selected for the test since the critical pressure and temperature of CO 2 are 7.38 MPa and 31.05degC that are much lower than those of water. This paper describes the design characteristics of the SPHINX and the experimental investigations on the heat transfer and pressure drop of a vertical single tube with an inside diameter of 4.4 mm with upward flow of supercritical CO 2 . The geometry of the single tube is the same as that of Kyushu University test performed with Freon (R22) for the direct comparison of a medium effect. The tests were performed with various heat and mass fluxes at a given pressure. The range of mass flux is 400∼1200 kg/m 2 s and the heat flux is chosen up to 150 kW/m 2 . The selected pressure are 7.75, 8.12, and 8.85 MPa. The test results are investigated and compared with the previous tests. (author)

  6. Reacting flow simulations of supercritical water oxidation of PCB-contaminated transformer oil in a pilot plant reactor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Marulanda

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The scale-up of a supercritical water oxidation process, based on recent advancements in kinetic aspects, reactor configuration and optimal operational conditions, depends on the research and development of simulation tools, which allow the designer not only to understand the complex multiphysics phenomena that describe the system, but also to optimize the operational parameters to attain the best profit for the process and guarantee its safe operation. Accordingly, this paper reports a multiphysics simulation with the CFD software Comsol Multiphysics 3.3 of a pilot plant reactor for the supercritical water oxidation of a heavily PCB-contaminated mineral transformer oil. The proposed model was based on available information for the kinetic aspects of the complex mixture and the optimal operational conditions obtained in a lab-scale continuous supercritical water oxidation unit. The pilot plant simulation results indicate that it is not feasible to scale-up directly the optimal operational conditions obtained in the isothermal lab-scale experiments, due to the excess heat released by the exothermic oxidation reactions that result in outlet temperatures higher than 600°C, even at reactor inlet temperatures as low as 400°C. Consequently, different alternatives such as decreasing organic flowrates or a new reactor set-up with multiple oxidant injections should be considered to guarantee a safe operation.

  7. Recrystallization of andrographolide using the supercritical fluid antisolvent process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Kexun; Zhang, Xingyuan; Pan, Jian; Yin, Wenhong

    2005-01-01

    The supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process was used to modify the solid-state properties of andrographolide. Ethanol was employed as solvents for the pharmaceutical compound and carbon dioxide was used as an antisolvent. The effect of process parameters on the precipitate crystals such as pressure, organic solution flow rate, and concentration of the andrographolide solution were investigated. The crystal habit is column-like and its size changed from longer and thicker to shorter and thinner when pressure increased and when the solution flow rate increased, the size of the crystal decreased. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed variations of crystallinity and crystal orientation depending on pressure, where the degree of crystallinity increased when pressure increased. The differential scanning calorimetry patterns also showed the same results as XRD.

  8. Thermodynamic analysis of a supercritical water reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edwards, M.

    2007-01-01

    A thermodynamic model has been developed for a hypothetical design of a Supercritical Water Reactor, with emphasis on Canadian design criteria. The model solves for cycle efficiency, mass flows and physical conditions throughout the plant based on input parameters of operating pressures and efficiencies of components. The model includes eight feedwater heaters, three feedwater pumps, a deaerator, a condenser, the core, three turbines and two reheaters. To perform the calculations, Microsoft Excel was used in conjunction with FLUIDCAL-IAPWS95 and VBA code. The calculations show that a thermal efficiency of 47.5% can be achieved with a core outlet temperature of 625 o C. (author)

  9. Computational Analysis of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Gas Turbine for Liquid Metal Cooled Reactor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeong, Wi S.; Suh, Kune Y. [Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2008-10-15

    Energy demands at a remote site are increased as the world energy requirement diversifies so that they should generate power on their own site. A Small Modular Reactor (SMR) becomes a viable option for these sites. Generally, the economic feasibility of a high power reactor is greater than that for SMR. As a result the supercritical fluid driven Brayton cycle is being considered for a power conversion system to increase economic competitiveness of SMR. The Brayton cycle efficiency is much higher than that for the Rankine cycle. Moreover, the components of the Brayton cycle are smaller than Rankine cycle's due to high heat capacity when a supercritical fluid is adopted. A lead (Pb) cooled SMR, BORIS, and a supercritical fluid driven Brayton cycle, MOBIS, are being developed at the Seoul National University (SNU). Dostal et al. have compared some advanced power cycles and proposed the use of a supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO{sub 2}) driven Brayton cycle. According to their suggestion SCO{sub 2} is adopted as a working fluid for MOBIS. The turbo machineries are most important components for the Brayton cycle. The turbo machineries of Brayton cycle consists of a turbine to convert kinetic energy of the fluid into mechanical energy of the shaft, and a compressor to recompress and recover the driving force of the working fluid. Therefore, turbine performance is one of the pivotal factors in increasing the cycle efficiency. In MOBIS a supercritical gas turbine is designed in the Gas Advanced Turbine Operation (GATO) and analyzed in the Turbine Integrated Numerical Analysis (TINA). A three-dimensional (3D) numerical analysis is employed for more detailed design to account for the partial flow which the one-dimensional (1D) analysis cannot consider.

  10. Computational Analysis of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Gas Turbine for Liquid Metal Cooled Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Wi S.; Suh, Kune Y.

    2008-01-01

    Energy demands at a remote site are increased as the world energy requirement diversifies so that they should generate power on their own site. A Small Modular Reactor (SMR) becomes a viable option for these sites. Generally, the economic feasibility of a high power reactor is greater than that for SMR. As a result the supercritical fluid driven Brayton cycle is being considered for a power conversion system to increase economic competitiveness of SMR. The Brayton cycle efficiency is much higher than that for the Rankine cycle. Moreover, the components of the Brayton cycle are smaller than Rankine cycle's due to high heat capacity when a supercritical fluid is adopted. A lead (Pb) cooled SMR, BORIS, and a supercritical fluid driven Brayton cycle, MOBIS, are being developed at the Seoul National University (SNU). Dostal et al. have compared some advanced power cycles and proposed the use of a supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO 2 ) driven Brayton cycle. According to their suggestion SCO 2 is adopted as a working fluid for MOBIS. The turbo machineries are most important components for the Brayton cycle. The turbo machineries of Brayton cycle consists of a turbine to convert kinetic energy of the fluid into mechanical energy of the shaft, and a compressor to recompress and recover the driving force of the working fluid. Therefore, turbine performance is one of the pivotal factors in increasing the cycle efficiency. In MOBIS a supercritical gas turbine is designed in the Gas Advanced Turbine Operation (GATO) and analyzed in the Turbine Integrated Numerical Analysis (TINA). A three-dimensional (3D) numerical analysis is employed for more detailed design to account for the partial flow which the one-dimensional (1D) analysis cannot consider

  11. Heat transfer study under supercritical pressure conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamashita, Tohru; Yoshida, Suguru; Mori, Hideo; Morooka, Shinichi; Komita, Hideo; Nishida, Kouji

    2003-01-01

    Experiments were performed on heat transfer and pressure drop of a supercritical pressure fluid flowing upward in a uniformly heated vertical tube of a small diameter, using HCFC22 as a test fluid. Following results were obtained. (1) Characteristics of the heat transfer are similar to those for the tubes of large diameter. (2) The effect of tube diameter on the heat transfer was seen for a 'normal heat transfer, but not for a 'deteriorated' heat transfer. (3) The limit heat flux for the occurrence of deterioration in heat transfer becomes larger with smaller diameter tube. (4) The Watts and Chou correlation has the best prediction performance for the present data in the 'normal' heat transfer region. (5) Frictional pressure drop becomes smaller than that for an isothermal flow in the region near the pseudocritical point, and this reduction was more remarkable for the deteriorated' heat transfer. (author)

  12. Convective mixing in helium white dwarfs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vauclair, G.; Fontaine, G.

    1979-01-01

    The conditions under which convective mixing episodes take place between the helium envelopes and the underlying carbon layers in helium-rich white dwarfs are investigated. It is found that, for essentially any value of the initial helium content less than the maximum mass a helium convection zone can have, mixing does occur, and leads, in the vast majority of cases, to an almost pure carbon superficial composition. Mixing products that show only traces of carbon while retaining helium-dominated envelopes are possible only if the initial helium content is quite close to the maximum possible mass of the helium convection zone. In the presence of turbulence, this restriction could be relaxed, however, and the helium-rich lambda4670 stars may possibly be explained in this fashion

  13. Supercritical fluid technology: concepts and pharmaceutical applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deshpande, Praful Balavant; Kumar, G Aravind; Kumar, Averineni Ranjith; Shavi, Gopal Venkatesh; Karthik, Arumugam; Reddy, Meka Sreenivasa; Udupa, Nayanabhirama

    2011-01-01

    In light of environmental apprehension, supercritical fluid technology (SFT) exhibits excellent opportunities to accomplish key objectives in the drug delivery sector. Supercritical fluid extraction using carbon dioxide (CO(2)) has been recognized as a green technology. It is a clean and versatile solvent with gas-like diffusivity and liquid-like density in the supercritical phase, which has provided an excellent alternative to the use of chemical solvents. The present commentary provides an overview of different techniques using supercritical fluids and their future opportunity for the drug delivery industry. Some of the emerging applications of SFT in pharmaceuticals, such as particle design, drug solubilization, inclusion complex, polymer impregnation, polymorphism, drug extraction process, and analysis, are also covered in this review. The data collection methods are based on the recent literature related to drug delivery systems using SFT platforms. SFT has become a much more versatile and environmentally attractive technology that can handle a variety of complicated problems in pharmaceuticals. This cutting-edge technology is growing predominantly to surrogate conventional unit operations in relevance to the pharmaceutical production process. Supercritical fluid technology has recently drawn attention in the field of pharmaceuticals. It is a distinct conception that utilizes the solvent properties of supercritical fluids above their critical temperature and pressure, where they exhibit both liquid-like and gas-like properties, which can enable many pharmaceutical applications. For example, the liquid-like properties provide benefits in extraction processes of organic solvents or impurities, drug solubilization, and polymer plasticization, and the gas-like features facilitate mass transfer processes. It has become a much more versatile and environmentally attractive technology that can handle a variety of complicated problems in pharmaceuticals. This review is

  14. Test Results of a 1.2 kg/s Centrifugal Liquid Helium Pump for the ATLAS Superconducting Toroid Magnet System

    CERN Document Server

    Pengo, R; Passardi, Giorgio; Pirotte, O; ten Kate, H H J

    2002-01-01

    The toroid superconducting magnet of ATLAS-LHC experiment at CERN will be indirectly cooled by means of forced flow of liquid helium at about 4.5 K. A centrifugal pump will be used, providing a mass flow of 1.2 kg/s and a differential pressure of 40 kPa (ca. 400 mbar) at about 4300 rpm. Two pumps are foreseen, one for redundancy, in order to feed in parallel the cooling circuits of the Barrel and the two End-Caps toroid magnets. The paper describes the tests carried out at CERN to measure the characteristic curves, i.e. the head versus the mass flow at different rotational speeds, as well as the pump total efficiency. The pump is of the "fullemission" type, i.e. with curved blades and it is equipped with an exchangeable inducer. A dedicated pump test facility has been constructed at CERN, which includes a Coriolis-type liquid helium mass flow meter. This facility is connected to the helium refrigerator used for the tests at CERN of the racetrack magnets of the Barrel and of the End-Cap toroids.

  15. Brookhaven program to develop a helium-cooled power transmission system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forsyth, E.B.

    1975-01-01

    The particular system under design consists of flexible cables installed in a cryogenic enclosure at room temperature and cooled to the range 6 to 9 0 K by supercritical helium, contraction of the cable is accommodated by proper choice of helix angles of the components of the cable. The superconductor is Nb 3 Sn and at the present time the dielectric insulation is still the subject of intensive development. Two good choices appear to be forms of polyethylene and polycarbonate. Sample cables incorporating various dielectrics have been manufactured commercially in lengths of 1500 ft and tested in laboratory cryostats in shorter sections of about 70 ft. A test facility is under construction to evaluate cables and cryogenic components for this type of service, the first refrigerator uses a 350 H.P. screw compressor and three turbo-expander stages. It is hoped to achieve reliability of a very high order. The first three-phase tests will be conducted at 69 kV, although it appears that 230 to 345 kV is the most likely voltage range for future applications. (auth)

  16. Friendly fermions of helium-three

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leggatt, T.

    1976-01-01

    The importance of helium in showing up the effects of atomic indistinguishability and as a material by which to test some of the most fundamental principles of quantum mechanics is discussed. Helium not only remains liquid down to zero temperature but of the two isotopes helium-three has intrinsic spin 1/2 and should therefore obey the Pauli principle, while helium-four has spin zero and is expected to undergo Bose condensation. Helium-three becomes superfluid at temperatures of a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero by the bulk liquid collecting its atoms into spinning pairs. There are three different superfluid phases, now conveniently called A, B and A 1 and each is characterised by a different behaviour of the spin and/or relative angular motion of the atoms composing the Cooper pairs. Problems surrounding the complicated physical system of helium-three are discussed. It is suggested that the combined coherence and directionality of superfluid helium-three should create some fascinating physics. (U.K.)

  17. The influence of radiative transfer on the turbulent flow inside solar absorbers operating with supercritical CO

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pecnik, R.; Smit, S.H.H.J.; Patel, A.; Roekaerts, D.J.E.M.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper we investigate and compare two dierent solar receiver technologies for concentrated solar power plants operating with supercritical CO2. The rst receiver is based on conventional surface absorbers, while the second receiver is based on an innovative idea to use volumetric receivers

  18. submitter Superconducting instrumentation for high Reynolds turbulence experiments with low temperature gaseous helium

    CERN Document Server

    Pietropinto, S; Baudet, C; Castaing, B; Chabaud, B; Gagne, Y; Hébral, B; Ladam, Y; Lebrun, P; Pirotte, O; Roche, P

    2003-01-01

    Turbulence is of common experience and of high interest for industrial applications, despite its physical grounds is still not understood. Cryogenic gaseous helium gives access to extremely high Reynolds numbers (Re). We describe an instrumentation hosted in CERN, which provides a 6 kW @ 4.5 K helium refrigerator directly connected to the experiment. The flow is a round jet; the flow rates range from 20 g/s up to 260 g/s at 4.8 K and about 1.2 bar, giving access to the highest controlled Re flow ever developed. The experimental challenge lies in the range of scales which have to be investigated: from the smallest viscous scale η, typically 1 μm at Re=107 to the largest L∼10 cm. The corresponding frequencies: f=v/η can be as large as 1 MHz. The development of an original micrometric superconducting anemometer using a hot spot and its characteristics will be discussed together with its operation and the perspectives associated with superconducting anemometry.

  19. Accident tolerant high-pressure helium injection system concept for light water reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Massey, Caleb; Miller, James; Vasudevamurthy, Gokul

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Potential helium injection strategy is proposed for LWR accident scenarios. • Multiple injection sites are proposed for current LWR designs. • Proof-of-concept experimentation illustrates potential helium injection benefits. • Computational studies show an increase in pressure vessel blowdown time. • Current LOCA codes have the capability to include helium for feasibility calculations. - Abstract: While the design of advanced accident-tolerant fuels and structural materials continues to remain the primary focus of much research and development pertaining to the integrity of nuclear systems, there is a need for a more immediate, simple, and practical improvement in the severe accident response of current emergency core cooling systems. Current blowdown and reflood methodologies under accident conditions still allow peak cladding temperatures to approach design limits and detrimentally affect the integrity of core components. A high-pressure helium injection concept is presented to enhance accident tolerance by increasing operator response time while maintaining lower peak cladding temperatures under design basis and beyond design basis scenarios. Multiple injection sites are proposed that can be adapted to current light water reactor designs to minimize the need for new infrastructure, and concept feasibility has been investigated through a combination of proof-of-concept experimentation and computational modeling. Proof-of-concept experiments show promising cooling potential using a high-pressure helium injection concept, while the developed choked-flow model shows core depressurization changes with added helium injection. Though the high-pressure helium injection concept shows promise, future research into the evaluation of system feasibility and economics are needed.Classification: L. Safety and risk analysis

  20. Efficient separation of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin from turmeric using supercritical fluid chromatography: From analytical to preparative scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Wei; Qiao, Xue; Liang, Wen-fei; Ji, Shuai; Yang, Lu; Wang, Yuan; Xu, Yong-wei; Yang, Ying; Guo, De-an; Ye, Min

    2015-10-01

    Curcumin is the major constituent of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). It has attracted widespread attention for its anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities. The separation of curcumin and its two close analogs, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin, has been challenging by conventional techniques. In this study, an environmentally friendly method based on supercritical fluid chromatography was established for the rapid and facile separation of the three curcuminoids directly from the methanol extract of turmeric. The method was first developed and optimized by ultra performance convergence chromatography, and was then scaled up to preparative supercritical fluid chromatography. Eluted with supercritical fluid CO2 containing 8-15% methanol (containing 10 mM oxalic acid) at a flow rate of 80 mL/min, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin could be well separated on a Viridis BEH OBD column (Waters, 250 mm × 19 mm, 5 μm) within 6.5 min. As a result, 20.8 mg of curcumin (97.9% purity), 7.0 mg of demethoxycurcumin (91.1%), and 4.6 mg of bisdemethoxycurcumin (94.8%) were obtained after a single step of supercritical fluid chromatography separation with a mean recovery of 76.6%. Showing obvious advantages in low solvent consumption, large sample loading, and easy solvent removal, supercritical fluid chromatography was proved to be a superior technique for the efficient separation of natural products. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  1. Conceptual design of a commercial supercritical CO2 gas turbine for the fast reactor power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muto, Y.; Ishizuka, T.; Aritomi, M.

    2010-01-01

    This paper describes the design results of turbine and compressors of a supercritical CO 2 gas turbine connected to the commercial sodium cooled fast reactor. Power output of the gas turbine-generator system is 750 MWe. The system consists of turbine, main compressor and bypass compressor. Turbine is axial flow type. Both axial flow and centrifugal compressors were designed. Aerodynamic, blade strength and rotor dynamics calculations were conducted. Achievable adiabatic efficiencies and cross-sectional structures are given. For this design conditions, the axial flow compressor is superior to the centrifugal compressor due to the large mass flow rate. (authors)

  2. Steps of Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Natural Products and Their Characteristic Times

    OpenAIRE

    Sovová, H. (Helena)

    2012-01-01

    Kinetics of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) from plants is variable due to different micro-structure of plants and their parts, different properties of extracted substances and solvents, and different flow patterns in the extractor. Variety of published mathematical models for SFE of natural products corresponds to this diversification. This study presents simplified equations of extraction curves in terms of characteristic times of four single extraction steps: internal diffusion, exter...

  3. MUFITS Code for Modeling Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide at Sub- and Supercritical Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afanasyev, A.

    2012-12-01

    Two-phase models are widely used for simulation of CO2 storage in saline aquifers. These models support gaseous phase mainly saturated with CO2 and liquid phase mainly saturated with H2O (e.g. TOUGH2 code). The models can be applied to analysis of CO2 storage only in relatively deeply-buried reservoirs where pressure exceeds CO2 critical pressure. At these supercritical reservoir conditions only one supercritical CO2-rich phase appears in aquifer due to CO2 injection. In shallow aquifers where reservoir pressure is less than the critical pressure CO2 can split in two different liquid-like and gas-like phases (e.g. Spycher et al., 2003). Thus a region of three-phase flow of water, liquid and gaseous CO2 can appear near the CO2 injection point. Today there is no widely used and generally accepted numerical model capable of the three-phase flows with two CO2-rich phases. In this work we propose a new hydrodynamic simulator MUFITS (Multiphase Filtration Transport Simulator) for multiphase compositional modeling of CO2-H2O mixture flows in porous media at conditions of interest for carbon sequestration. The simulator is effective both for supercritical flows in a wide range of pressure and temperature and for subcritical three-phase flows of water, liquid CO2 and gaseous CO2 in shallow reservoirs. The distinctive feature of the proposed code lies in the methodology for mixture properties determination. Transport equations and Darcy correlation are solved together with calculation of the entropy maximum that is reached in thermodynamic equilibrium and determines the mixture composition. To define and solve the problem only one function - mixture thermodynamic potential - is required. The potential is determined using a three-parametric generalization of Peng-Robinson equation of state fitted to experimental data (Todheide, Takenouchi, Altunin etc.). We apply MUFITS to simple 1D and 2D test problems of CO2 injection in shallow reservoirs subjected to phase changes between

  4. Helium in inert matrix dispersion fuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Veen, A. van; Konings, R.J.M.; Fedorov, A.V.

    2003-01-01

    The behaviour of helium, an important decay product in the transmutation chains of actinides, in dispersion-type inert matrix fuels is discussed. A phenomenological description of its accumulation and release in CERCER and CERMET fuel is given. A summary of recent He-implantation studies with inert matrix metal oxides (ZrO 2 , MgAl 2 O 4 , MgO and Al 2 O 3 ) is presented. A general picture is that for high helium concentrations helium and vacancy defects form helium clusters which convert into over-pressurized bubbles. At elevated temperature helium is released from the bubbles. On some occasions thermal stable nano-cavities or nano-pores remain. On the basis of these results the consequences for helium induced swelling and helium storage in oxide matrices kept at 800-1000 deg. C will be discussed. In addition, results of He-implantation studies for metal matrices (W, Mo, Nb and V alloys) will be presented. Introduction of helium in metals at elevated temperatures leads to clustering of helium to bubbles. When operational temperatures are higher than 0.5 melting temperature, swelling and helium embrittlement might occur

  5. Operating Manual of Helium Refrigerator (Rev. 2)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Song, K.M.; Son, S.H.; Kim, K.S.; Lee, S.K.; Kim, M.S. [Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Taejon (Korea)

    2002-07-01

    A helium refrigerator was installed as a supplier of 20K cold helium to the cryogenic distillation system of WTRF pilot plant. The operating procedures of the helium refrigerator, helium compressor and auxiliary apparatus are described for the safety and efficient operation in this manual. The function of the helium refrigerator is to remove the impurities from the compressed helium of about 250psig, to cool down the helium from ambient temperature to 20K through the heat exchanger and expansion engine and to transfer the cold helium to the cryogenic distillation system. For the smoothly operation of helium refrigerator, the preparation, the start-up, the cool-down and the shut-down of the helium refrigerator are described in this operating manual. (author). 3 refs., 14 tabs.

  6. Supercritical Airfoil Coordinates

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Rectangular Supercritical Wing (Ricketts) - design and measured locations are provided in an Excel file RSW_airfoil_coordinates_ricketts.xls . One sheet is with Non...

  7. Theoretical models for supercritical fluid extraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Zhen; Shi, Xiao-Han; Jiang, Wei-Juan

    2012-08-10

    For the proper design of supercritical fluid extraction processes, it is essential to have a sound knowledge of the mass transfer mechanism of the extraction process and the appropriate mathematical representation. In this paper, the advances and applications of kinetic models for describing supercritical fluid extraction from various solid matrices have been presented. The theoretical models overviewed here include the hot ball diffusion, broken and intact cell, shrinking core and some relatively simple models. Mathematical representations of these models have been in detail interpreted as well as their assumptions, parameter identifications and application examples. Extraction process of the analyte solute from the solid matrix by means of supercritical fluid includes the dissolution of the analyte from the solid, the analyte diffusion in the matrix and its transport to the bulk supercritical fluid. Mechanisms involved in a mass transfer model are discussed in terms of external mass transfer resistance, internal mass transfer resistance, solute-solid interactions and axial dispersion. The correlations of the external mass transfer coefficient and axial dispersion coefficient with certain dimensionless numbers are also discussed. Among these models, the broken and intact cell model seems to be the most relevant mathematical model as it is able to provide realistic description of the plant material structure for better understanding the mass-transfer kinetics and thus it has been widely employed for modeling supercritical fluid extraction of natural matters. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Optimization of Operation Parameters for Helical Flow Cleanout with Supercritical CO2 in Horizontal Wells Using Back-Propagation Artificial Neural Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Xianzhi; Peng, Chi; Li, Gensheng; He, Zhenguo; Wang, Haizhu

    2016-01-01

    Sand production and blockage are common during the drilling and production of horizontal oil and gas wells as a result of formation breakdown. The use of high-pressure rotating jets and annular helical flow is an effective way to enhance horizontal wellbore cleanout. In this paper, we propose the idea of using supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) as washing fluid in water-sensitive formation. SC-CO2 is manifested to be effective in preventing formation damage and enhancing production rate as drilling fluid, which justifies tis potential in wellbore cleanout. In order to investigate the effectiveness of SC-CO2 helical flow cleanout, we perform the numerical study on the annular flow field, which significantly affects sand cleanout efficiency, of SC-CO2 jets in horizontal wellbore. Based on the field data, the geometry model and mathematical models were built. Then a numerical simulation of the annular helical flow field by SC-CO2 jets was accomplished. The influences of several key parameters were investigated, and SC-CO2 jets were compared to conventional water jets. The results show that flow rate, ambient temperature, jet temperature, and nozzle assemblies play the most important roles on wellbore flow field. Once the difference between ambient temperatures and jet temperatures is kept constant, the wellbore velocity distributions will not change. With increasing lateral nozzle size or decreasing rear/forward nozzle size, suspending ability of SC-CO2 flow improves obviously. A back-propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) was successfully employed to match the operation parameters and SC-CO2 flow velocities. A comprehensive model was achieved to optimize the operation parameters according to two strategies: cost-saving strategy and local optimal strategy. This paper can help to understand the distinct characteristics of SC-CO2 flow. And it is the first time that the BP-ANN is introduced to analyze the flow field during wellbore cleanout in horizontal wells.

  9. Optimization of Operation Parameters for Helical Flow Cleanout with Supercritical CO2 in Horizontal Wells Using Back-Propagation Artificial Neural Network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianzhi Song

    Full Text Available Sand production and blockage are common during the drilling and production of horizontal oil and gas wells as a result of formation breakdown. The use of high-pressure rotating jets and annular helical flow is an effective way to enhance horizontal wellbore cleanout. In this paper, we propose the idea of using supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2 as washing fluid in water-sensitive formation. SC-CO2 is manifested to be effective in preventing formation damage and enhancing production rate as drilling fluid, which justifies tis potential in wellbore cleanout. In order to investigate the effectiveness of SC-CO2 helical flow cleanout, we perform the numerical study on the annular flow field, which significantly affects sand cleanout efficiency, of SC-CO2 jets in horizontal wellbore. Based on the field data, the geometry model and mathematical models were built. Then a numerical simulation of the annular helical flow field by SC-CO2 jets was accomplished. The influences of several key parameters were investigated, and SC-CO2 jets were compared to conventional water jets. The results show that flow rate, ambient temperature, jet temperature, and nozzle assemblies play the most important roles on wellbore flow field. Once the difference between ambient temperatures and jet temperatures is kept constant, the wellbore velocity distributions will not change. With increasing lateral nozzle size or decreasing rear/forward nozzle size, suspending ability of SC-CO2 flow improves obviously. A back-propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN was successfully employed to match the operation parameters and SC-CO2 flow velocities. A comprehensive model was achieved to optimize the operation parameters according to two strategies: cost-saving strategy and local optimal strategy. This paper can help to understand the distinct characteristics of SC-CO2 flow. And it is the first time that the BP-ANN is introduced to analyze the flow field during wellbore cleanout in

  10. Testing of a cryogenic recooler heat exchanger at Brookhaven National Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nicoletti, A.; Wu, K.C.

    1993-01-01

    Brookhaven National Laboratory has tested a recooler heat exchanger intended to be used in the cryogenic system of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The unit is required to transfer 225 Watts from a supercritical helium stream flowing at 100 g/s to a helium bath boiling at 4.25 K. Measurements made with heat loads of 50 to over 450 Watts on the unit indicate its cooling capacity is greater than 400 Watts, as expected, and it will be suitable for use in the RHIC ring. Presented are the modifications made to BNL's MAGCOOL test facility that were necessary for testing, test procedure, and recooler performance

  11. Airfoil Shape Optimization in Transonic Flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Islam, Z.

    2004-01-01

    A computationally efficient and adaptable design tool is constructed by coupling a flow analysis code based on Euler equations, with the well established numerical optimization algorithms. Optimization technique involving two analysis methods of Simplex and Rosenbrock have been used. The optimization study involves the minimization of wave drag for two different airfoils with geometric constraints on the airfoil maximum thickness or the cross sectional area along with aerodynamic constraint on lift coefficient. The method is applied to these airfoils transonic flow design points, and the results are compared with the original values. This study shows that the conventional low speed airfoils can be optimized to become supercritical for transonic flight speeds, while existing supercritical airfoils can still be improved further at particular design condition. (author)

  12. Large scale particle image velocimetry with helium filled soap bubbles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bosbach, Johannes; Kuehn, Matthias; Wagner, Claus [German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology, Goettingen (Germany)

    2009-03-15

    The application of particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measurement of flows on large scales is a challenging necessity especially for the investigation of convective air flows. Combining helium filled soap bubbles as tracer particles with high power quality switched solid state lasers as light sources allows conducting PIV on scales of the order of several square meters. The technique was applied to mixed convection in a full scale double aisle aircraft cabin mock-up for validation of computational fluid dynamics simulations. (orig.)

  13. Large scale particle image velocimetry with helium filled soap bubbles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosbach, Johannes; Kühn, Matthias; Wagner, Claus

    2009-03-01

    The application of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to measurement of flows on large scales is a challenging necessity especially for the investigation of convective air flows. Combining helium filled soap bubbles as tracer particles with high power quality switched solid state lasers as light sources allows conducting PIV on scales of the order of several square meters. The technique was applied to mixed convection in a full scale double aisle aircraft cabin mock-up for validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations.

  14. Supercritical Regeneration of an Activated Carbon Fiber Exhausted with Phenol

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Jesus Sanchez-Montero

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The properties of supercritical CO2 (SCCO2 and supercritical water (SCW turn them into fluids with a great ability to remove organic adsorbates retained on solids. These properties were used herein to regenerate an activated carbon fiber (ACF saturated with a pollutant usually contained in wastewater and drinking water, phenol. Severe regeneration conditions, up to 225 bar and 400 °C, had to be employed in SCCO2 regeneration to break the strong interaction established between phenol and the ACF. Under suitable conditions (regeneration temperature, time, and pressure, and flow of SCCO2 the adsorption capacity of the exhausted ACF was completely recovered, and even slightly increased. Most of the retained phenol was removed by thermal desorption, but the extra percentage removed by extraction allowed SCCO2 regeneration to be significantly more efficient than the classical thermal regeneration methods. SCCO2 regeneration and SCW regeneration were also compared for the first time. The use of SCW slightly improved regeneration, although SCW pressure was thrice SCCO2 pressure. The pathways that controlled SCW regeneration were also investigated.

  15. Relation between the conditions of helium ion implantation and helium void equilibrium parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neklyudov, I.M.; Rybalko, V.F.; Ruzhitskij, V.V.; Tolstolutskaya, G.D.

    1981-01-01

    The conditions of helium thermodynamic equilibrium in a system of voids produced by helium ion bombardment of a metal sample are studied. As an initial equation for description of the equilibrium the Clapeyron equation was used. The equation is obtained relating basic parameters of helium voids (average diameter and density) to irradiation parameters (dose, ion energy (straggling)) and properties of the metal (surface tension coefficient, yield strength). Comparison of the calculations with experimental data on helium in nickel found in literature shows that the equation yields satisfactory resutls for the dose range 1.10 16 -1x10 17 cm -2 and temperatures T [ru

  16. Helium behaviour in nuclear glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fares, T.

    2011-01-01

    The present thesis focuses on the study of helium behavior in R7T7 nuclear waste glass. Helium is generated by the minor actinides alpha decays incorporated in the glass matrix. Therefore, four types of materials were used in this work. These are non radioactive R7T7 glasses saturated with helium under pressure, glasses implanted with 3 He + ions, glasses doped with curium and glasses irradiated in nuclear reactor. The study of helium solubility in saturated R7T7 glass has shown that helium atoms are inserted in the glass free volume. The results yielded a solubility of about 10 16 at. cm -3 atm. -1 . The incorporation limit of helium in this type of glass has been determined; its value amounted to about 2*10 21 at. cm -3 , corresponding to 2.5 at.%. Diffusion studies have shown that the helium migration is controlled by the single population dissolved in the glass free volume. An ideal diffusion model was used to simulate the helium release data which allowed to determine diffusion coefficients obeying to the following Arrhenius law: D = D 0 exp(-E a /kBT), where D 0 = 2.2*10 -2 and 5.4*10 -3 cm 2 s -1 and E a = 0.61 eV for the helium saturated and the curium doped glass respectively. These results reflect a thermally activated diffusion mechanism which seems to be not influenced by the glass radiation damage and helium concentrations studied in the present work (up to 8*10 19 at. g -1 , corresponding to 0.1 at.%). Characterizations of the macroscopic, structural and microstructural properties of glasses irradiated in nuclear reactor did not reveal any impact associated with the presence of helium at high concentrations. The observed modifications i.e. a swelling of 0.7 %, a decrease in hardness by 38 %, an increase between 8 and 34 % of the fracture toughness and a stabilization of the glass structure under irradiation, were attributed to the glass nuclear damage induced by the irradiation in reactor. Characterizations by SEM and TEM of R7T7 glasses implanted

  17. Heat transfer test in a vertical tube using CO2 at supercritical pressures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hwan Yeol; Kim, Hyungrae; Song, Jin Ho; Cho, Bong Hyun; Bae, Yoon Yeong

    2007-01-01

    Heat transfer test facility, SPHINX (Supercritical Pressure Heat Transfer Investigation for NeXt Generation), was constructed at KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) for an investigation of the thermal-hydraulic behaviors of supercritical CO 2 at the various geometries of the test section. The test data will be used for the reactor core design of the SCWR (SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor). As a working fluid, CO 2 was selected to make use of the low critical pressure and temperature of CO 2 compared with water. An experimental study was carried out in the SPHINX to investigate the characteristics of heat transfer and pressure drop at a vertical single tube with an inside diameter of 4.4 mm in case of an upward flow of supercritical CO 2 . The heat and mass fluxes were varied at a given pressure. The mass flux was in the range of 400-1,200 kg/m 2 s and the heat flux was chosen up to 150 kW/m 2 . The selected pressures were 7.75, 8.12, and 8.85 MPa. A heat transfer deterioration occurred at the lower mass fluxes. The experimental heat transfer coefficients were compared with the ones predicted by several existing correlations. The standard deviation was about 20% for each correlation and an apparent discrepancy was not found among the correlations. The major components of the pressure drop were a gravitational pressure drop and a frictional pressure drop. The frictional pressure drop increases as the mass flux and heat flux increase. (author)

  18. Cooling with Superfluid Helium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lebrun, P; Tavian, L [European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva (Switzerland)

    2014-07-01

    The technical properties of helium II (‘superfluid’ helium) are presented in view of its applications to the cooling of superconducting devices, particularly in particle accelerators. Cooling schemes are discussed in terms of heat transfer performance and limitations. Large-capacity refrigeration techniques below 2 K are reviewed, with regard to thermodynamic cycles as well as process machinery. Examples drawn from existing or planned projects illustrate the presentation. Keywords: superfluid helium, cryogenics.

  19. Fast infrared spectroscopy in supercritical fluids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, X.

    2000-05-01

    Chapter 1: Introduction. A brief introduction to supercritical fluids is given, illustrating why supercritical fluids are unique solvents and why there is a wide application of supercritical fluids in industry and laboratories. Potential ways for solvation in supercritical fluids to affect reactivity are briefly reviewed. A general introduction to the photochemistry of organometallic complexes is also given. Chapter 2: Time resolved vibrational spectroscopy. Time resolved resonance Raman is introduced and compared with Time-resolved infrared spectroscopy (TRIR). The different approaches of TRIR, including microsecond, nanosecond, and ultrafast (picosecond and femtosecond) systems are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of these systems are also compared. The TRIR apparatus using an IR diode laser used for work in this thesis are described in detail. Experimental procedures for supercritical fluid TRIR experiments are described with emphasis on handling the IR cell for supercritical fluids and preparation of supercritical fluid solutions. Chapter 3: Photochemistry of group VIB hexacarbonyl compounds in supercritical noble gases and CO 2 solutions. A systematic TRIR study of the photolysis of M(CO) 6 in supercritical Ar, Kr, Xe, and CO 2 and the observation of M(CO) 5 L (M = Cr, Mo, and W; L = Ar (W only), Kr, Xe, and CO 2 ) is described. The second-order rate constants for the reaction of M(CO) 5 L with CO have been evaluated and the reactivity for each metal is Kr > Xe ∼ CO 2 . For M(CO) 5 Kr, M(CO) 5 Xe, or M(CO) 5 (CO 2 ), the reactivity is Cr ∼ Mo > W. In supercritical Kr doped with either Xe or CO 2 , the M(CO) 5 moiety interacts with Xe or CO 2 in preference to Kr. The effect of solvent density on the rate of the reaction of W(CO) 5 (CO 2 ) with CO has been investigated. The reaction of W(CO) 5 (CO 2 ) with CO in scCO 2 is predominantly a dissociative process. The activation energies for the reaction of W(CO) 5 Xe and W(CO) 5 (CO 2 ) with CO and

  20. Bed system performance in helium circulation mode

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Yean Jin; Jung, Kwang Jin; Ahn, Do Hee; Chung, Hong Suk [UST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Hee Suk [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Yun, Sei Hun [NFRI, Deajeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-05-15

    As a part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Project, We have conducted an experiment for storing hydrogen to depleted uranium and zirconium cobalt. The helium blanket effect has been observed in experiments using metal hydrides. The collapse of the hydrogen isotopes are accompanied by the decay heat and helium-3. Helium-3 dramatically reduces the hydrogen isotope storage capacity by surrounding the metal. This phenomenon is called a helium blanket effect. In addition the authors are working on the recovery and removal techniques of helium-3. In this paper, we discuss the equipment used to test the helium blanket effect and the results of a helium circulation experiment. The helium-3 produced surrounds the storage material surface and thus disturbs the reaction of the storage material and the hydrogen isotope. Even if the amount of helium-3 is small, the storage capacity of the SDS bed significantly drops. This phenomenon is the helium blanket effect. To resolve this phenomenon, a circulating loop was introduced. Using a circulating system, helium can be separated from the storage material. We made a helium loop that includes a ZrCo bed. Then using a metal bellows pump, we tested the helium circulation.

  1. Handbook on superconductivity: the large-scale applications. Chapter IV. Stability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dresner, L.

    1984-01-01

    One way to cool a magnet is to immerse it in a bath of liquid helium. Boiling helium is a favorite because of helium's large latent heat of vaporization, but as in all boiling heat transfer, blanketing of the surface by vapor (film boiling) limits the attainable heat transfer. A second way to cool is with single-phase supercritical helium. To make the heat transfer high, helium in turbulent flow is forced through hollow conductors. A third way to cool is with He-II at atmospheric pressure. The He-II phase of helium, which remains liquid right down to absolute zero, has some remarkable properties that distinguish it from all other liquids, including the normal liquid phase of helium, He-I. These properties have excited great interest in He-II as a coolant for superconducting magnets. Each of these ways of cooling leads to a class of specialized problems that are discussed in detail. A somewhat different way to forestall quenches is to pot the conductor in a material that tightly confines it and to cool it indirectly by conduction to helium not directly in contact with it. The special problems of this approach are discussed as well

  2. Strength analysis of CARR-CNS with crescent-shape moderator cell and helium sub-cooling jacket covering cell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Qingfeng; Feng Quanke; Kawai Takeshi; Shen Feng; Yuan Luzheng; Cheng Liang

    2005-01-01

    The new type of the moderator cell was developed for the cold neutron source (CNS) of the China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR) which is now being constructed at the China Institute of Atomic Energy in Beijing. A crescent-shape moderator cell covered by the helium sub-cooling jacket is adopted. The structure of the moderator cell is optimized by the stress FEM analysis. A crescent-shape would help to increase the volume of the moderator cell for fitting it to the four cold neutron guide tubes, even if liquid hydrogen, not liquid deuterium, was used as a cold moderator. The helium sub-cooling jacket covering the moderator cell removes the nuclear heating of the outer shell wall of the cell. It contributes to reduce the void fraction of liquid hydrogen in the outer shell of the moderator cell. Such a type of a moderator cell is suitable for the CNS with higher nuclear heating. The cold helium gas flows down first into the helium sub-cooling jacket and then flows up to the condenser. The theory of the self-regulation suitable to the thermo-siphon type of the CNS is also applicable and validated

  3. Development of a test facility for analyzing supercritical fluid blowdown

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roberto, Thiago D.; Alvim, Antonio C.M.

    2015-01-01

    The generation IV nuclear reactors under development mostly use supercritical fluids as the working fluid because higher temperatures improve the thermal efficiency. Supercritical fluids are used by modern nuclear power plants to achieve thermal efficiencies of around 45%. With water as the supercritical working fluid, these plants operate at a high temperature and pressure. However, experiments on supercritical water are limited by technical and financial difficulties. These difficulties can be overcome by using model fluids, which have more feasible supercritical conditions and exhibit a lower critical pressure and temperature. Experimental research is normally used to determine the conditions under which model fluids represent supercritical fluids under steady-state conditions. A fluid-to-fluid scaling approach has been proposed to determine model fluids that can represent supercritical fluids in a transient state. This paper presents an application of fractional scale analysis to determine the simulation parameters for a depressurization test facility. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and R134a gas were considered as the model fluids because their critical point conditions are more feasible than those of water. The similarities of water (prototype), CO 2 (model) and R134a (model) for depressurization in a pressure vessel were analyzed. (author)

  4. Dissipation in the superfluid helium film

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turkington, R.R.; Harris-Lowe, R.F.

    1977-01-01

    We have measured the rate of energy dissipation in superfluid helium film flow in an attempt to test a recent theory due to Harris-Lowe, which predicts that for superfluid stream velocities v/sub s/ that just exceed the critical velocity v/sub c0/, the rate of dissipation is given by an equation of the form Q=C(v/sub s/-v/sub c0/)/sup 3/2/. Our experiments at 1.33 K show that the exponent, predicted to be 3/2, is 1.491 +- 0.021

  5. Helium supply demand in future years

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laverick, C.

    1975-01-01

    Adequate helium will be available to the year 2000 AD to meet anticipated helium demands for present day applications and the development of new superconducting technologies of potential importance to the nation. It is almost certain that there will not be enough helium at acceptable financial and energy cost after the turn of the century to meet the needs of the many promising helium based technologies now under development. Serious consideration should be given to establishing priorities in development and application based upon their relative value to the country. In the first half of the next century, three ways of estimating helium demand lead to cumulative ranges of from 75 to 125 Gcf (economic study), 89 to 470 Gcf (projected national energy growth rates) and 154 to 328 Gcf (needs for new technologies). These needs contrast with estimated helium resources in natural gas after 2000 AD which may be as low as 10 or 126 Gcf depending upon how the federal helium program is managed and the nation's natural gas resources are utilized. The technological and financial return on a modest national investment in further helium storage and a rational long term helium program promises to be considerable

  6. Dynamic simulations of the cryogenic system of a tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cirillo, R.; Hoa, C.; Michel, F.; Rousset, B.; Poncet, J.M.

    2015-01-01

    In a tokamak plasma confinement is achieved through high magnetic fields generated by superconductive coils that need to be cooled down to 4.4 K with a forced flow of supercritical Helium. Tokamak's coil system works cyclically and so it is subject to pulsed heat loads which have to be handled by the refrigerator. This latter has to be sized on the average power value and not according to the peak to limit investment and operation costs and hence the heat load needs to be smoothed. CEA Grenoble is in charge of providing the cryogenic system for the Japanese tokamak JT60-SA, currently under construction in Naka (Japan). Hence, in order to model and study the smoothing strategies, an experimental set up: HELIOS (Helium Loop for high load smoothing) has been built. This is a scaled down model (1:20) of the helium distribution system whose main components are a saturated helium bath and a supercritical helium loop. This large installation can reproduce conditions of pressure, temperature and transport times, similar to those expected in the cooling circuits of the central solenoid superconducting magnets of JT-60SA. The peak loads representative of the tokamak operation have been reproduced and smoothed before they arrive in the refrigerator, by means of a saturated helium bath (thermal reservoir). A dynamic modelling of the cryogenic system is presented, with results on the pulsed load scenarios. All the simulations have been performed with EcosimPro software developed and the cryogenic library: CRYOLIB. This document is made up of an abstract and the slides of the presentation

  7. 27.12 MHz plasma generation in supercritical carbon dioxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawashima, Ayato; Toyota, Hiromichi; Nomura, Shinfuku; Takemori, Toshihiko; Mukasa, Shinobu; Maehara, Tsunehiro; Yamashita, Hiroshi

    2007-01-01

    An experiment was conducted for generating high-frequency plasma in supercritical carbon dioxide; it is expected to have the potential for applications in various types of practical processes. It was successfully generated at 6-20 MPa using electrodes mounted in a supercritical cell with a gap of 1 mm. Emission spectra were then measured to investigate the physical properties of supercritical carbon dioxide plasma. The results indicated that while the emission spectra for carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide could be mainly obtained at a low pressure, the emission spectra for atomic oxygen could be obtained in the supercritical state, which increased with the pressure. The temperature of the plasma in supercritical state was estimated to be approximately 6000-7000 K on the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium and the calculation results of thermal equilibrium composition in this state showed the increase of atomic oxygen by the decomposition of CO 2

  8. Radiolytic and electron-transfer reactions in supercritical CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartels, D. M.; Dimitrijevic, N. M.; Jonah, C. D.; Takahashi, K.

    2000-01-01

    Using supercritical fluids as solvents is useful for both practical and theoretical reasons. It has been proposed to use supercritical CO 2 as a solvent for synthesis because it eliminates the air pollution arising from other solvents. The properties of supercritical fluids can be easily varied with only modest changes in temperature and density, so they provide a way of testing theories of chemical reactions. It has also been proposed to use supercritical fluids for the treatment of hazardous mixed waste. For these reasons the authors have studied the production of radiolytic species in supercritical CO 2 and have measured their reactivity as a function of density. They have shown that the C 2 O 4 + is formed. They also have shown that the electron transfer reactions of dimethylaniline to C 2 O 4 + and CO 2 (e - ) to benzoquinone are diffusion controlled over a considerable density range

  9. Supercritical fields and bald black holes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Irvine, J M

    1975-01-01

    The instability of a many-fermion ground state against particle-hole excitations is reviewed and the existence of supercritical electromagnetic and strong interaction fields is briefly discussed. The nature of associated phase changes and in particular the change in conservation laws which accompanies the phase changes is outlined. Finally, the supercritical gravitational field is considered and weight given to the argument that ''black holes have no hair.''

  10. Thermal analysis of a coaxial helium panel of a cryogenic vacuum pump for advanced divertor of DIII-D tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baxi, C.B.; Langhorn, A.; Schaubel, K.; Smith, J.

    1991-08-01

    It is planned to install a 50,000 1/s cryogenic pump for particle removal in the D3-D tokamak. A critical component of this cryogenic pump will be a helium panel which has to be maintained at a liquid helium temperature. The outer surface area of the helium panel has an area of 1 m 2 and consists of a 2.5 cm diameter, 10 m long tube. From design considerations, a coaxial geometry is preferable since it requires a minimum number of welds. However, the coaxial geometry also results in a counter flow heat exchanger arrangement, where the outgoing warm fluid will exchange heat with incoming cold fluid. This is of concern since the helium panel must be cooled from liquid nitrogen temperature to liquid helium temperature in less than 5 minutes for successful operation of the cryogenic pump. In order to analyze the thermal performance of the coaxial helium panel, a finite difference computer model of the geometry was prepared. The governing equations took into account axial as well as radial conduction through the tube walls. The variation of thermal properties was modeled. The results of the analysis showed that although the coaxial geometry behaves like a counter flow heat exchanger, within the operating range of the cryogenic pump a rapid cooldown of the helium panel from liquid nitrogen temperature to the operating temperature is feasible. A prototypical experiment was also performed at General Atomics (GA) which verified the concept and the analysis. 4 refs., 8 figs

  11. Surface electrons of helium films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Studart, N.; Hipolito, O.

    1986-01-01

    Theoretical calculations of some properties of two-dimensional electrons on a liquid helium film adsorbed on a solid substrate are reviewed. We describe the spectrum of electron bound states on bulk helium as well on helium films. The correlational properties, such as the structure factor and correlation energy, are determined as functions of the film thickness for different types of substrates in the framework of a Generalized Random-Phase Approximation. The collective excitations of this system are also described. The results for electrons on the surface of thin films and bulk helium are easily obtained. we examine the electron interaction with the excitations of the liquid helium surface resulting in a new polaron state, which was observed very recently. The ground state energy and the effective mass of this polaron are determined by using the path-integral formalism and unitary-transformation method. Recent speculations about the phase diagram of electrons on the helium film are also discussed. (Author) [pt

  12. Helium dilution refrigerator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1973-01-01

    A new system of continuous heat exchange for a helium dilution refrigerator is proposed. The 3 He effluent tube is concurrent with the affluent mixed helium tube in a vertical downward direction. Heat exchange efficiency is enhanced by placing in series a number of elements with an enlarged surface area

  13. Supercritical Synthesis of Biodiesel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michel Vaultier

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The synthesis of biodiesel fuel from lipids (vegetable oils and animal fats has gained in importance as a possible source of renewable non-fossil energy in an attempt to reduce our dependence on petroleum-based fuels. The catalytic processes commonly used for the production of biodiesel fuel present a series of limitations and drawbacks, among them the high energy consumption required for complex purification operations and undesirable side reactions. Supercritical fluid (SCF technologies offer an interesting alternative to conventional processes for preparing biodiesel. This review highlights the advances, advantages, drawbacks and new tendencies involved in the use of supercritical fluids (SCFs for biodiesel synthesis.

  14. Stabilization of flow past a rounded cylinder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samtaney, Ravi; Zhang, Wei

    2016-11-01

    We perform global linear stability analysis on low-Re flow past a rounded cylinder. The cylinder corners are rounded with a radius R, normalized as R+ = R / D where D is the cylinder diameter, and its effect on the flow stability characteristics is investigated. We compute the critical Reynolds number (Recr) for the onset of first instability, and quantify the perturbation growth rate for the super-critical flows. It is found that the flow can be stabilized by partially rounding the cylinder. Compared with the square and circular cylinders, the partially rounded cylinder has a higher Recr , attaining a maximum at around R+ = 0 . 30 , and the perturbation growth rate of the super-critical flows is reduced for Re R+ -> 0 . 00), while only the near-wake backflow is crucial for circular-like cylinders (R+ -> 0 . 50). The stability analysis results are also verified with those of the direct simulations and very good agreement is achieved. Supported by the KAUST Office of Competitive Research Funds under Award No. URF/1/1394-01. The supercomputer Shaheen at KAUST was utilized for the simulations.

  15. Laser Induced Fluorescence of Helium Ions in a Helicon Plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Compton, C. S.; Biloui, C.; Hardin, R. A.; Keesee, A. M.; Scime, E. E.; Boivin, R.

    2003-10-01

    The lack of a suitable Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) scheme for helium ions at visible wavelengths has prevented LIF from being employed in helium plasmas for measurements of ion temperature and bulk ion flow speeds. In this work, we will discuss our attempts to perform LIF of helium ions in a helicon source plasma using an infrared, tunable diode laser operating at 1012.36 nm. The infrared transition corresponds to excitation from the n = 4 level (4f ^2F) to the n = 5 (5g ^2G) level of singly ionized helium and therefore requires substantial electron temperatures (> 10 eV) to maintain an adequate ion population in the n = 4 state. Calculations using a steady state coronal model predict that the n = 4 state population will be 25% larger than the n = 5 population for our experimental conditions. The fluorescence decay from the n = 5 (5f ^2F) level of singly ionized helium level to the n = 3 (3d ^2D) level at 320.31 nm is monitored as the diode laser is swept through 10 GHz around the 1012.36 nm line. Note that the fluorescence emission requires a collisionally coupled transition between two different n = 5 quantum states. We will also present measurements of the emission intensities of both the 1012.36 nm and the 320.31 nm lines as a function of source neutral pressure, rf power, and plasma density. This work supported by the U.S. DoE EPSCoR Lab Partnership Program.

  16. Supercritical heat transfer phenomena in nuclear system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seo, Kyoung Woo; Kim, Moo Hwan; Anderson, Mark H.; Corradini, Michael L.

    2005-01-01

    A supercritical water (SCW) power cycle has been considered as one of the viable candidates for advanced fission reactor designs. However, the dramatic variation of thermo-physical properties with a modest change of temperature near the pseudo-critical point make existing heat transfer correlations such as the Dittus-Boelter correlation not suitably accurate to calculate the heat transfer in supercritical fluid. Several other correlations have also been suggested but none of them are able to predict the heat transfer over a parameter range, needed for reactor thermal-hydraulics simulation and design. This has prompted additional research to understand the characteristic of supercritical fluid heat transfer

  17. Effect of supercritical fluid density on nanoencapsulated drug particle size using the supercritical antisolvent method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalani, Mahshid; Yunus, Robiah

    2012-01-01

    The reported work demonstrates and discusses the effect of supercritical fluid density (pressure and temperature of supercritical fluid carbon dioxide) on particle size and distribution using the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) method in the purpose of drug encapsulation. In this study, paracetamol was encapsulated inside L-polylactic acid, a semicrystalline polymer, with different process parameters, including pressure and temperature, using the SAS process. The morphology and particle size of the prepared nanoparticles were determined by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results revealed that increasing temperature enhanced mean particle size due to the plasticizing effect. Furthermore, increasing pressure enhanced molecular interaction and solubility; thus, particle size was reduced. Transmission electron microscopy images defined the internal structure of nanoparticles. Thermal characteristics of nanoparticles were also investigated via differential scanning calorimetry. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction pattern revealed the changes in crystallinity structure during the SAS process. In vitro drug release analysis determined the sustained release of paracetamol in over 4 weeks.

  18. Numerical investigation on the flow, combustion, and NOX emission characteristics in a 660 MWe tangential firing ultra-supercritical boiler

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenjing Sun

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available A three-dimensional numerical simulation was carried out to study the pulverized-coal combustion process in a tangentially fired ultra-supercritical boiler. The realizable k-ε model for gas coupled with discrete phase model for coal particles, P-1 radiation model for radiation, two-competing-rates model for devolatilization, and kinetics/diffusion-limited model for combustion process are considered. The characteristics of the flow field, particle motion, temperature distribution, species components, and NOx emissions were numerically investigated. The good agreement of the measurements and predictions implies that the applied simulation models are appropriate for modeling commercial-scale coal boilers. It is found that an ideal turbulent flow and particle trajectory can be observed in this unconventional pulverized-coal furnace. With the application of over-fire air and additional air, lean-oxygen combustion takes place near the burner sets region and higher temperature at furnace exit is acquired for better heat transfer. Within the limits of secondary air, more steady combustion process is achieved as well as the reduction of NOx. Furthermore, the influences of the secondary air, over-fire air, and additional air on the NOx emissions are obtained. The numerical results reveal that NOx formation attenuates with the decrease in the secondary air ratio (γ2nd and the ratio of the additional air to the over-fire air (γAA/γOFA was within the limits.

  19. Backscattered Helium Spectroscopy in the Helium Ion Microscope: Principles, Resolution and Applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Gastel, Raoul; Hlawacek, G.; Dutta, S.; Poelsema, Bene

    2015-01-01

    We demonstrate the possibilities and limitations for microstructure characterization using backscattered particles from a sharply focused helium ion beam. The interaction of helium ions with matter enables the imaging, spectroscopic characterization, as well as the nanometer scale modification of

  20. A universal salt model based on under-ground precipitation of solid salts due to supercritical water `out-salting'

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rueslåtten, H.; Hovland, M. T.

    2010-12-01

    shallow magma-chamber causes a sufficiently high heat-flow to drive a convection cell of seawater. The model shows that salt precipitates along the flow lines within the supercritical region (Hovland et al., 2006). During the various stages of planet Mars’ development, it must be inferred that zones with very high heat-flow also existed there. This meant that water (brine) confined in the crust of Mars was mobilized in a convective manner and would pass into the supercritical water zone during the down-going leg (the recharge leg) of the convective cell. The zones with supercritical out-salting would require accommodation space for large masses of solid salt, as modeled in the Red Sea analogy. However, as the accommodation space for the solid salt fills up, it will pile up and force its way upwards to form large, perhaps layered anticlines, as seen in the Hebes Mensa area of Mars and at numerous locations on Earth, including the Red Sea. Thus, we offer a universal ‘hydrothermal salt model’, which would be viable on all planets with free water in their interiors or on their surfaces, including Mars and Earth. Hovland, et al., 2006. Salt formation by supercritical seawater and submerged boiling. Marine and Petrol. Geol. 23, 855-69