• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1914-1928
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• 2022

To improve the heat transfer efficiency of the reactor fuel assembly, it is necessary to accurately calculate the two-phase flow boiling characteristics and the critical heat flux (CHF) in the fuel assembly. In this paper, a Eulerian two-fluid model combined with the extended wall boiling model was used to numerically simulate the 5 × 5 fuel rod bundle with spacer grids (four sets of mixing vane grids and four sets of simple support grids without mixing vanes). We calculated and analyzed 11 experimental conditions under different pressure, inlet temperature, and mass flux. After comparing the CHF and the location of departure from the nucleate boiling obtained by the numerical simulation with the experimental results, we confirmed the reliability of computational fluid dynamic analysis for the prediction of the CHF of the rod bundle and the boiling characteristics of the two-phase flow. Subsequently, we analyzed the influence of the spacer grid and mixing vanes on the void fraction, liquid temperature, and secondary flow distribution. The research in this article provides theoretical support for the design of fuel assemblies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.753-762
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• 2006

In this paper, works related to enhancement of the CHF are reviewed in terms of fundamental mechanisms and practical applications. Studies on CHF enhancement in forced convection are divided into two categories, CHF enhancement of internal flow in tubes and enhancement of CHF in the nuclear fuel bundle. Methods of enhancing the CHF of internal flows in tubes include enhancement of the swirl flow using twisted tapes, a helical coil, and a grooved surface; promotion of flow mixing using a hypervapotron; altering the characteristics of the heated surface using porous coatings and nano-fluids; and changing the surface tension of the fluid using additives such as surfactants. In the fuel bundle, mixing vanes or wire wrapped rods can be employed to enhance the CHF by changing the flow distributions. These methods can be applied to practical heat exchange systems such as nuclear reactors, fossil boilers, fusion reactors, etc.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2873-2878
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• 2007

The mixing vanes attached to the spacer grid of rod bundles are used to improve the heat transfer in heat exchanger devices by controlling the characteristics of the flow structures and turbulence. In this study, velocity patterns induced by two types of mixing vane(split and swirl vane) are measured by the PIV technique to better understand how to effect on the cross and secondary vortex flow patterns in $5{\times}$ rod bundle simulating the fuel assembly of the nuclear reactor. A successful measurement of the lateral velocity patterns was conducted using a specially designed beam sheet generator and experimental loop at KAERI. As the result, we found that for the cross flow between subchannels, the split vane is more effective than the swirl vane, while for the secondary vortex flow in each subchannel, the swirl vane's one is larger and longer than split vane's one.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.283-297
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• 2001

The CHF in PWR rod bundles is usually predicted by the local flow correlation approach based on subchannel analysis while difficulty exists due to the existence of spacer grids especially with mixing vanes. In order to evaluate the effect of spacer grids on CHF, the experimental rod bundle data with various types of spacer grids were analyzed using the subchannel code, COBRA-IV-i. For the Plain grid data, a CHF correlation was described as a function of local flow conditions and heated length, and then the residuals of the CHF in mixing vaned grids predicted by the correlation were examined in various kinds of grids. In order to compensate for the residual, three parameters, distances between grids and from the last grids to the CHF site, and equivalent hydraulic diameter were introduced into a grid parameter function representing the remaining effect of spacer grids predicted most of the CHF data points in plaing grids within $\pm$20 percent error band. Good agreement with the CHF data was also shown when the grid parameter function for mixing vaned grids of a specific design was used to compensate for the residuals of the CHF data predicted by the correlation.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.12a
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• pp.469-475
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• 2003

The performance of a centrifugal compressor composed of an impeller, tandem diffuser rows and axial guide vanes has been predicted numerically and compared with available experimental results on its design rotational speed. The pitchwise-averaged mixing plane method was employed for the boundaries between rotor and stator to obtain steady state solutions. The overall characteristics showed differently according to the relative positions of tandem diffuser rows while the characteristics of impeller showed almost identical. The numerical results agree with the measured data in respect of their tendency. It turned out that 0% of relative positions is the worst case in terms of static pressure recovery and efficiency. According to the experimental results, some pressure fluctuations and malfunction of the compressor were observed for 75% case. However, this numerical calculation using mixing plane method did not capture any of those phenomena. Thus, unsteady flow calculation should be performed to investigate the stability of the compressor caused by different diffuser configuration.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.9-21
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• 1998

The optimization of frontal device including fuel nozzle and swirler is required to secure the mixing of fuel and air, and the combustion stability in the gas turbine combustor design for the reduction of pollutant emissions and the increase of combustion efficiency. The effects of injection nozzle and swirler on the flow field, spray characteristics and consequently the combustion stability, were experimentally investigated by measuring the velocity field, droplet sizes of fuel spray, lean combustion limit and the temperature field in the main combustion region. The effect of fuel injection nozzle was tested by adopting three different nozzles; a dual orifice fuel nozzle, a hollow cone nozzle and a solid cone nozzle. These tests were combined with the three different swirler geometries; a dual-stage swirler with 40$^{\circ}$ /-4 5$^{\circ}$ vanes and two single-stage swirlers with 40$^{\circ}$ vane angle having 12 and 16vanes, respectively. Flow fields and spray characteristics were measured with APV(Adaptive Phase Doppler Velocimetry) under atmospheric condition using kerosine fuel. Temperatures were measured by Pt-PtI3%Rh, R-type thermocouple which was 0.2mm thick. It was found that the dual swirler resulted in the biggest recirculation zone with the highest reverse flow velocity at the central region, which lead the most stable combustion. The various combustion characteristics were observed as a function of the combination between the injector and swirler, that gave a tip for the better design of gas turbine combustor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.389-397
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• 2015

The effects of mixing vanes (MVs) attached to a grid spacer on the characteristics of air-water annular flows were experimentally investigated. To know the effects, a grid spacer with or without MV was inserted in a vertical circular pipe of 16-mm internal diameter. For three cases (i.e., no spacer, spacer without MV, and spacer with MV), the liquid film thickness, liquid entrainment fraction, and deposition rate were measured by the constant current method, single liquid film extraction method, and double liquid film extraction method, respectively. The MVs significantly promote the re-deposition of liquid droplets in the gas core flow into the liquid film on the channel walls. The deposition mass transfer coefficient is three times higher for the spacer with MV than for the spacer without MV, even for cases 0.3-m downstream from the spacer. The liquid film thickness becomes thicker upstream and downstream for the spacer with MV, compared with the thickness for the spacer without MV and for the case with no spacer.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.437-443
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• 2018

This study investigates the effect of the mixing elements on the pressure loss and mixing performance in line mixer. The high density ozone water devices mixed with gas and liquid are used in various fields such as sterilizing of group feeding facilities and water quality management at a fish farm. Due to the decrease in rainfall due to climate change, pasteurization of drinking water from ground water and surface water is extremely important. Therefore, it is intended to develop a line-mixed gas liquid mixer with a small amount of space. In this study, the effects of the number of static mixers and the types and the number of the orifice used in line mixer on the volume fraction and the pressure loss were studied by CFD simulation. The pressure drops of line mixer with orifice which curved vanes were attached to were down to more than 50 percent of that of line mixer with static mixer whereas the mixing performance of the former was similar to that of the latter.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.7 no.2 s.23
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• pp.27-34
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• 2004

The performance of a centrifugal compressor composed of an impeller, tandem diffuser rows and axial guide vanes has been predicted numerically and compared with available experimental results on its design rotational speed. The pitchwise-averaged mixing plane method was employed for the boundaries between rotor and stator to obtain steady state solutions. The overall characteristics showed difference according to the relative positions of tandem diffuser rows while the characteristics of impeller showed almost identical result. The numerical results agree with the measured data in respect of their tendency. It turned out that $0\%$ of relative positions is the worst case in terms of static pressure recovery and efficiency. According to the experimental results, some pressure fluctuations and malfunction of the compressor were observed for $75\%$ case. However, this numerical calculation using mixing plane method did not capture any of those phenomena. Thus, unsteady flow calculation should be performed to investigate the stability of the compressor caused by different diffuser configuration.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.191-196
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• 2007

This paper presents the measuring technique for local heat transfer coefficients using a copper sensor in a rod bundle with mixing vanes. A copper sensor consists of a cartridge heater and four pieces of thermocouple. The Heater is located at the center of the copper sensor and thermocouples measure the surface temperature of the copper sensor. Unheated copper sensor and heated copper sensor are able to measure the local heat transfer coefficient at the position where the heated copper sensor is installed. However the entire region of a rod bundle is actually not heated, the decay of local heat transfer coefficients measured represents overestimated value rather than an actual value. The calibration curve for local heat transfer coefficients is presented using the correction factor calculated by CFD.