• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.1085-1097
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• 2022

A printed circuit steam generator (PCSG) is being considered as the component for pressurized water reactor (PWR) type small modular reactor (SMR) that can further reduce the physical size of the system. Since a steam generator in many PWR-type SMR generates superheated steam, it is expected that dryout front oscillation can potentially cause thermal fatigue failure due to cyclic thermal stresses induced by the transition in boiling regimes between convective evaporation and film boiling. To investigate the fatigue issue of a PCSG, a reference PCSG is designed in this study first using an in-house PCSG design tool. For the stress analysis, a finite element method analysis model is developed to obtain the temperature and stress fields of the designed PCSG. Fatigue estimation is performed based on ASME Boiler and pressure vessel code to identify the major parameters influencing the fatigue life time originating from the dryout front oscillation. As a result of this study, the limit on the temperature difference between the hot side and cold side fluids is obtained. Moreover, it is found that the heat transfer coefficient of convective evaporation and film boiling regimes play an essential role in the fatigue life cycle as well as the temperature difference.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.1038-1045
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• 2000

An experimental study was carried out to delineate the flow characteristics in a closed countescurrent two-phase thermo syphon with concentric tubes. This is to be installed in the HANARO research reactor as a part of a Cold Neutron Source(CNS). In the present investigation, experiments ata room temperature with Freon-II3 as a moderator were performed. Results show that, based on the magnitude of pressure fluctuation, the flow regimes could be divided into 4 distinct ones in the ($V_f,\;Q_i$) plane, where $V_f$ represents the volume of the charged liquid and $Q_i$ the heat load: a stable flow regime, an oscillatory flow regime, a restablized flow regime and a dryout flow regime. For $V_f$>2.5l, the flow is stable at low $Q_i$. However, as $Q_i$ increases, the flow becomes oscillatory and finally restablizes As $V_f$ increases, the oscillation amplitude decreases, reaching to the restablized flow region at low $Q_i$, and the liquid level in the moderator cell remains high. In the oscillatory flow regimes, for a fixed VI; the oscillating period of time varies with $Q_i$, having a minimum value at a certain value of $Q_i$. The heat load, where the oscillating period of time is minimum, decreases as $V_f$ increases.