• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권6호
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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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권2호
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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.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2001년도 춘계학술대회논문집E
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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.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.429-439
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• 2003

Counter-current two-phase flows of air- water in narrow rectangular channels with offset strip fins have been experimentally investigated in a 760 mm long and 100 mm wide test section with 3.0 and 5.0 mm gap widths. The two-phase flow regime, channel-average void fractions and two-phase pressure gradients were studied. Flow regime transition occurred at lower superficial velocities of air than in the channels without fins. In the bubbly and slug flow regimes, elongated bubbles rose along the subchannel formed by fins without lateral movement. The critical void fraction for the bubbly-to-slug transition was about 0.14 for the 3 mm gap channel and 0.2 for the 5 mm gap channel. respectively. Channel-average void fractions in the channels with fins were almost the same as those in the channels without fins. Void fractions increased as the gap width increased, especially at high superficial velocity of air. The presence of fins enhanced the two-phase distribution parameter significantly in the slug flow, where the effect of gap width was almost negligible. Superficial velocity of air dominated the two-phase pressure gradients. Liquid superficial velocity and channel gap width has only a minor effect on the pressure gradients.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2000년도 추계학술대회논문집B
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• pp.136-141
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• 2000

A study of counter-current two-phase flow in narrow rectangular channels has been performed. Two-phase flow regimes were experimentally studied in 760 mm long and 100 mm wide test sections with 2.0 and 3.0mm gaps. The resulting data have been compared to previous transition models. For the transition from bubbly to slug flow the superficial velocity of gas increased as the gap width increased. The comparison of experimental data to the transition model developed by Taitel and Barnea showed relatively good agreement for the bubbly-to-slug transition in the case of 2mm gap width. For the criteria of Mishima and Ishii to be applicable to the slug-to-churn transition the distribution parameter should be well defined for narrow channels. Even though the gap width of narrow channels increased the superficial gas velocity did not change for the transition form chum to annular flow regime. For the chum-to-annular transition the model of Taitel and Barnea showed discrepancies with experimental data, especially in the channel with larger gap.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제19권6호
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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.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
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• 제39권12호
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• pp.953-963
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• 2015

산업적으로 얇은 사각유로에서의 임계열유속을 포함한 열수력 현상을 이해하고 이를 시스템 설계에 반영해야 될 필요성이 증대되고 있다. 포화비등조건에서 임계열유속이 발생하는 주요기구는 일반적으로 환상유동 영역에서 액막이 건조되는 것이다. 이러한 임계열유속을 예측하기 위하여 원형관에 대한 대표적인 액막건조모델을 고찰하고 환상유동 시작 경계조건을 상수로 가정하는 기존 모델의 한계를 살펴보았다. 균일한 열유속으로 가열되는 얇은 수직사각유로 상향유동에서의 임계열유속을 예측하기 위하여 환상유동을 단순 모델링하고, 새로운 액막건조모델을 적용하였다. 284 개 실험데이타에 대한 예측성능을 확인한 결과 MAE 18.1%, RMSE 22.9% 예측오차로 실험데이타를 잘 예측할 수 있음을 확인하였다.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제13권4호
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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 Mechanical Science and Technology
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• 제15권7호
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• pp.941-950
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• 2001

A study of counter-current two-phase flow in narrow rectangular channels has been performed. Two-phase flow regimes were experimentally investigated in a 760mm long and 100mm wide test section with 2.0 and 5.0mm gap widths. The resulting flow regime maps were compared with the existing transition criteria. The experimental data and the transition criteria of the models showed relatively good agreement. However, the discrepancies between the experimental data and the model predictions of the flow regime transition become pronounced as the gap width increased. As the gap width increased the transition gas superficial velocities increased. The critical void fraction for the bubbly-to-slug transition was observed to be about 0.25. The two-phase distribution parameter for the slug flow was larger for the narrower channel. The uncertainties in the distribution parameter could lead to a disagreement in slug-to-churn transition between the experimental findings and the transition criteria. For the transition from churn to annular flow the effect of liquid superficial velocity was found to be insignificant.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제5권6호
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• pp.128-140
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• 1997

A new super compact condenser(SCC), which has been developed recently is especially suitable for an alternative refrigerant HFC-134a due to its high performance and compactness. The SCC is composed of two pipe headers, baffles, narrow multi-rectangular channels, and louvered fin arrays. Alternating inlet and outlet by the inserted baffles in pipe headers guide refrigerant to and from the narrow multi-rectangular channels. Since the flow rate and its lengh are changed depending on the number and location of baffles, the corresponding pressure drop and heat transfer rate are changed. The present study aims to theoretically and experimentally investigate the effects of baffle location and its number on the pressure drop and thermal performance of the SCC with 40 multi-rectangular channels. The results show that the present method provides an acceptable prediction of pressure drop and heat transfer rate for a 4 pass SCC. However, the model significantly under predicts the performance of a 3 pass SCC, which may be attributed to the phase separation of refrigerant flowing through header pipes. Pressure drop is more signifi- cantly influenced than heat transfer rate by the baffle location.