• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.1002-1012
• /
• 2024

To remove insoluble fission products, which could possibly cause reactor instability and significantly reduce heat transfer efficiency from primary system of molten salt reactor, a helium bubbling method is employed into a passive molten salt fast reactor. In this regard, two-phase flow behavior of molten salt and helium bubbles was investigated experimentally because the helium bubbles highly affect the circulation performance of working fluid owing to an additional drag force. As the helium flow rate is controlled, the change of key thermal-hydraulic parameters was analyzed through a two-phase experiment. Simultaneously, to assess the applicability of numerical model for the analysis of two-phase flow behavior, the numerical calculation was performed using the OpenFOAM 9.0 code. The accuracy of the numerical analysis code was evaluated by comparing it with the experimental data. Generally, numerical results showed a good agreement with the experiment. However, at the high helium injection rates, the prediction capability for void fraction of helium bubbles was relatively low. This study suggests that the multiphaseEulerFoam solver in OpenFOAM code is effective for predicting the helium bubbling but there exists a room for further improvement by incorporating the appropriate drag flux model and the population balance equation.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.134-142
• /
• 2006

Sub-cooling of cryogenic propellant by helium injection is one of the most effective methods for suppressing bulk boiling and keeping sub-cooled liquid oxygen before rocket launch. In order to design the cooling system, understanding of the limitations of heat and mass transfer is required. In this paper, an analytical model for the helium injection system is presented. This model's main feature is the representation of bubbling system using finite-rate heat transfer and instantaneous mass transfer concept. With this simplified approach, the effect of helium injection to liquid oxygen system under several circumstances is examined. Experimental results along with simulations of single bubble rising in liquid oxygen and bubbling system are presented with various helium injection flow rates, and with change of oxygen chamber pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2006

In this paper, a calculation method of the thermodynamic parameters of cryogenic propellant is proposed when a cryogenic propellant tank is pressurized by gaseous helium(GHe) bubbling. Temperature of cryogenic propellant and mass of dissolved GHe into propellant were analyzed at the various operation of pressurization of tile liquid oxygen(LOX) and hydrogen($LH_2$) tank using helium bubbling. It was evaluated how the GHe bubbling influences to the thermodynamic parameters of LOX and $LH_2$ with results of the analysis. With the proposed calculation method, It will be able to confirm the feasibility of GHe bubbling as a pressurization system of cryogenic propellant tank and to optimize the pressurization system using GHe bubbling.