• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.546-553
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• 2022

Narrow rectangular channels are employed in nuclear research reactors that use plate-type nuclear fuels, high heat-flux compact heat exchangers, and high-performance micro-electronics cooling systems. Two-phase flow in narrow rectangular channels is important, and it needs to be better understood because it is considerably different than that in round tubes. In this study, mechanistic models were developed for the flow regime transition criteria for various flow regimes in co-current air-water two-phase flow for vertical downward flow inside a narrow rectangular channel. The newly developed criteria were compared to a flow regime map of downward air-water two-phase flow inside a narrow rectangular channel with a 2.35-mm gap width under ambient temperature and pressure conditions. Overall, the proposed model showed good agreement with the experimental data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1796-1809
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• 2021

The subchannel of a research reactor used to generate high power density is designed to be narrow and rectangular and comprises plate-type fuels operating under downward flow conditions. Critical heat flux (CHF) is a crucial parameter for estimating the safety of a nuclear fuel; hence, this parameter should be accurately predicted. Here, machine learning is applied for the prediction of CHF in a narrow rectangular channel. Although machine learning can effectively analyze large amounts of complex data, its application to CHF, particularly for narrow rectangular channels, remains challenging because of the limited flow conditions available in existing experimental databases. To resolve this problem, we used four CHF correlations to generate pseudo-data for training an artificial neural network. We also propose a network architecture that includes pre-training and prediction stages to predict and analyze the CHF. The trained neural network predicted the CHF with an average error of 3.65% and a root-mean-square error of 17.17% for the test pseudo-data; the respective errors of 0.9% and 26.4% for the experimental data were not considered during training. Finally, machine learning was applied to quantitatively investigate the parametric effect on the CHF in narrow rectangular channels under downward flow conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.441-446
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• 2007

An experimental study on the countercurrent two-phase flow in narrow rectangular channels has been peformed. Countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL) was investigated using air and water in 760mm long, 100mm wide, vertical test sections with 1 and 3mm channel gaps. Tests were systematically performed with downward liquid superficial velocities and upward gas velocities covering 0 to 0.125 and 0 to 3.5m/s ranges, respectively. As the gap width of rectangular channel increased the CCFL water superficial velocity decreased for the given air superficial velocity. Slight increase of the air superficial velocity resulted in the abrupt decrease of water velocity when $j_g=2{\sim}4m/s$. The critical superficial velocity of air, at which the downward flow of water was no longer allowed, also decreased with the increase of gap width. The experimental results were compared with the previous correlations, which were mainly for round tubes, and the qualitative trends were found to be partially acceptable. However the quantitative discrepancies were hardly neglected. New correlation of CCFL was developed and showed good agreement with the experimental data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3962-3973
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• 2022

Several critical heat flux (CHF) correlations including the look-up table in the MARS code have been assessed for the prediction of CHF in a downward-flow narrow rectangular channel. For the assessment, we built an experiment database that covers pressures between 1.01 and 39.0 bar, gap sizes between 1.09 and 6.53 mm, mass fluxes up to 25,772 kg/m²s, and under one-sided and two-sided heating conditions. The results of the assessment showed that the Kaminaga correlation has the best overall prediction compared to others. However, because the correlation uses global variables, such as inlet and outlet subcooling and total heat transfer area, it is difficult to use in a system code. A new CHF correlation is then proposed by replacing the global variables in the Kaminaga correlation with local ones and adding correction factors to consider the effect of gap size, mass flux, and the number of heating walls. Additional correction factor is added to consider the effect of inlet subcooling. It is shown that the new one is better than the Kaminaga correlation and it is easy to implement to any system code.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.153-162
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• 2016

Experimental investigation was carried out on the CHF(Critical Heat Flux) under downward flow condition in narrow rectangular channels simulating subchannel of plate-type-fuel for JRTR(Jordan Research and Training Reactor). The experiments covers the license requirement of the research reactor. Two test sections used in this study simulate full scale subchannels for fission moly uranium target and plate-type-fuel, respectively. From the experimental results, the parameters affecting on the CHF are investigated. By using experimental data, the existing CHF prediction models were evaluated. Finally, the applicability of correlations were analysed to predict CHF in the narrow rectangular channel under the downward flow condition.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06e
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• pp.229-234
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• 2001

An adiabatic counter-current vertical two-phase flow of air and water in narrow rectangular channels with offset strip fm was investigated experimentally. Tests were systematically performed with downward liquid superficial velocities and upward gas velocities covering 0 to 0.06 m/s and 0 to 2.5 m/s ranges, respectively. Two-phase flow regimes were classified by examining the video images of flow patterns in transparent test sections of 760 mm long and 100 mm wide channel with gaps of 3.0 and 5.0 mm. The channel average void fraction was measured by the quick-closing valve method. Unlike the flow regimes in the channels without fin, where bubbly, slug, chum, and annular flow were identified, only bubbly and chum flow regimes were found for the channels with offset strip fin. However the existence of fin in the channels showed negligible effects on the void fraction. Instead counter-current flow limitations were found to happen at lower air superficial velocity once offset strip fin was introduced in narrow rectangular channels.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.304-311
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• 2001

An experimental study on the countercurrent two-phase flow in narrow rectangular channels has been performed. The void fraction and the pressure gradient were investigated using air and water in 760 mm long, 100 mm wide. vertical test sections with 2, 3 and 5 mm channel gaps. Tests were systematically performed with downward liquid superficial velocities and upward gas velocities covering 0 to 0.08 and 0 to 2.5 m/s ranges. respectively. the experimental results were compared with the previous correlations, which were mainly for round tubes, and the qualitative trends were found to be in good agreements. However the quantitative discrepancies were hardly neglected. as the superficial gas velocities increased, the void fraction increased and the pressure gradient decreased, where the effects of the liquid superficial velocities were infinitesimal. as the gap width of the rectangular channel increased the void fraction and the 2-phase frictional pressure gradient approached those values for the round tubes. Equi-periphery diameter, rather than the hydraulic diameter, seemed to be more effective in the analysis of two-phase flow behavior.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.98-109
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• 2016

The flow and heat transfer characteristics of a heat exchanger having rectangular pin-fin in the flow direction have been investigated numerically. On the bottom plate, the convective boundary conditions for the hot side was given, and the fins were arranged in a channel-type geometric model using the periodic boundary condition in the span-wise direction. Three-dimensional numerical calculations for the flow and conjugate heat transfer problem were conducted using SIMPLE algorithm and $k-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence model. For the slanted pin-fin models, it was found that the downward cooling flow is generated due to the downward pressure gradient component, which can enhance the heat transfer performance near the bottom surface and the fin stem region. Four different inclined angles were considered in the Reynolds number range of 13,500-55,000. The aero-thermal performance of the slanted pin-fin heat exchangers, such as the volume and area goodness factors, were summarized and compared with the baseline plate-fin type heat exchanger quantitatively.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.165-173
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• 2000

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of isothermal/nonisothermal coextrusion process of two immiscible polymers through a rectangular channel has been done using the finite element method. The encapsulation phenomenon with the less viscous layer encapsulating the more viscous layer was investigated with the generalized Newtonian fluids. The interface position around the symmetric plane obtained by numerical simulation nearly coincided with the one observed in experiments, but the degree of encapsulation was less than the one observed experimentally. Open boundary condition method was found to be applied to the simulation of nonisothermal coextrusion process, however, the results are not far from those using the fully developed boundary condition, because the temperature development along the downstream direction is very slow in the case of convection dominated flow. When the inlet velocity is increased, the interface profile does not change in isothermal flow, while it moves upward in nonisothermal situation. The degree of encapsulation decreases along the downstream direction in nonisothermal flow. When the inlet temperature increases compared to the wall temperature, the outlet interface moves downward and the degree of encapsulation increases. The difference of degree of encapsulation between the simulation and the experiments seems to arise from the viscoelastic effect of the materials. It was concluded that the nonisothermal effect alone does not explain the complex coextrusion process and the viscoelastic effect needs to be considered.