• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2016

This study investigated natural convection flow behavior in airflow path designed in concrete dry storage cask to remove the decay heat from spent nuclear fuels. Using FLUENT 16.1 code, thermal analysis for natural convection was carried out for three dimensional, 1/4 symmetry model under the normal condition that inlet ducts are 100% open. The maximum temperatures on other components except the fuel regions were satisfied with allowable values suggested in nuclear regulation-1536. From velocity and temperature distributions along the flow direction, the flow behavior in horizontal duct of air inlet and outlet duct, annular flow-path and bent pipe was delineated in detail. Theses results will be used as the theoretical background for the composing of airflow path for the designing of passive heat removal system by understanding the flow phenomena in airflow path.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 1997

Natural convection cooling of discrete heaters located in a two-dimensional vertical open top cavity is investigated experimentally. The five discrete heaters with same heat generation are located on the wall of the cavity. The heaters are arranged in two configurations; flush-mounted on a vertical wall and protruding from the wall about 4.5 mm. The materials used for the vertical walls are copper and epoxy-resin, and air is used as the cooling fluid. The temperature and flow fields in the cavity were visualized by means of Mach-Zehnder interferometer and smoke-method. Also, local temperature measurements are made along the vertical wall. Results are obtained for cavity aspect ratios of 4.6, 7.5 and 9.5 and modified Rayleigh numbers ranging from 10$^{3}$ to 10$^{6}$ . Results indicate that the cooling efficiency for the copper wall is superior to that of the epoxy-resin. For the epoxy-resin wall, the protrusion of the heaters plays a role in decreasing the heat transfer performance. The location of maximum temperature is significantly influenced by the wall materials and heater configurations. Correlations relating the Nusselt number to the modified Rayleigh number are proposed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.112-121
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• 1992

A numerical analysis was carried out to study two-dimensional turbulent natural convection in a square enclosure containing fluid of Prandtl number 6.05 within internal energy sources. The square enclosure was bounded by four rigid planes of constant equal temperature. Inclination angles of 0, 15, 30 and 45 deg. from the horizon for Rayleigh numbers from 1 * 10$^{6}$ to 1 * 10$^{9}$ were studied. Local and average Nusselts numbers are obtained on all four walls. If inclination angle exists, the average Nusselt number appears in increasing order at bottom, left, right and top wall.

• Solar Energy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 1992

In the present investigation, experimental analysis was performed to research heat transfer phenomena generated by means of conduction and natural convection at a succession of tube-inclimations relative to the vertical tube during inward melting process of a phase change material. The phase change material used in the experiments is 99 percent pure n-docosane paraffin($C_{22}H_{46}$). When the tube is vertical, the dominant mode of energy transfer between the tube wall and the melting interface is natural convection. On the other hand, when the tube is inclined to the vertical, the melting solid is brought into direct contact with the tube wall by the action of gravity. In the experimental results, direct contact gave rise to substantial enhancements in the amount of melted mass, relative to those for natural-convection-dominated melting.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2001

The natural convection heat transfer and solidification in a stratified pool are studied. The flow and heat transfer characteristics in a heat generating pool are compared between single-layered and double-layered pools. And local Nusselt number distributions on outer walls are obtained to consider thermal loads on a vessel wall. The cooling and solidification of Al₂O₃/Fe melt in a hemispherical vessel are simulated to study the mechanism of heat transfer and temperature distribution. A unstructured mesh is chosen for this study because of the non-orthogonality originated from the boundaries of double-layered pool. Interface between the layers is modeled to be fixed. With this assumption mass flux across the interface is neglected, but shear force and heat flux are considered by boundary conditions. The colocated cell-centered finite volume method is used with the Rhie-Chow interpolation to compute cell face velocity. To prevent non-physical solutions near walls in case body force is large the wall pressure is extrapolated by the way to include body force. The numerical solutions calculated by current method show that averaged downward heat flux of the double-layered pool increases compared to single-layered pool and maximum temperature occurs right below the interface of the layers.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.2601-2610
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• 1993

A numerical study on the melting process inside an isothermal spherical capsule is made. It is assumed that the phase change medium of its solid phase is heavier than the liquid phase and therefore the unmelted solid core is continuously moving downward on account of gravity forces. Such a gravity-assisted melting is commonly characterized by the existence of a thin liquid film below the solid core. The present study is motivated to present a full-equation-based analysis of the influences of the initial subcooling and the natural convection on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics associated with the gravity-assisted melting. In the light of the solution strategy, the present study is substantially distinguished from the existing works in that the complete set of governing equations in both the melted and unmelted regions are resolved without subdivision of the solution domains. For example, the liquid film region and the upper melted region are treated here as one domain and thus obviating laborious efforts to couple them. Numerical results are obtained by varying the Rayleigh numbers and the degree of subcooling. For the range of parameters examined, the presence of subcooling was found to impede the melting rate. The dropping velocity of the unmelted solid core was observed to affect the natural convection in the liquid significantly. When compared with the available experimental data, much improved prediction was achieved.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 2013

This paper reports numerical study results with respect to the thermal behavior of a natural convection cooled hybrid fin heat sink (HFH). The HFH consists of hybrid fins, hollow pin fins integrated with plate fins. The thermal performance of the HFH was numerically investigated by employing a commercial CFD software package and compared with that of the pin fin heat sink (PFH). Numerical study has found that array-based and mass-based heat transfer coefficients of the HFH are 12% and 37% greater than those of the PFH, respectively. Extended surface area and lighter weight may explain the better thermal performance of the HFH than the PFH.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.135-141
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• 2015

The core melts stratifies into lower mixture layer and upper metal layer by density in a severe accident condition. The decay heat generated from the mixture layer threatens the integrity of the reactor vessel. This study simulated the natural convection heat transfer of the mixture layer with volumetric heat source using the mass transfer system. $H_2SO_4-CuSO_4$ electroplating system was used as the mass transfer system. With the modified Rayleigh number of $3{\times}10^{14}$, the Nusselt number showed minimum at the bottom and increased along curvature to the top of the experimental apparatus.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.281-287
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• 1999

The turbulent natural convection in the membrane type LNG carrier cofferdam with heating points has been studied by numerical method. As the numerical methods, we introduced the three turbulence model, a standard $k-{\varepsilon}$ model and two case of a low Reynolds number models. The parameters considered for this study ore number and capacity of heating points i.e., $1{\leq}Ns{\leq}12$ and $1.0{\times}10^5{\leq}Qs(W/m^3){\leq}1.0{\times}10^8$. The results of the isotherms and velocity vectors have been represented for various parameters. The temperature and velocity at upper position in the space ore shown to be higher than those at lower position. For obtaining the optimal temperatures, $20{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ in the cofferdam space, the heating capacities show $2.0{\times}10^7W/m^3$ at g-heating points and $1.0{\times}10^7W/m^3$ at 12-points. The mean temperature in the cofferdam space can be expressed as a function of number and capacity of heating points.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.3313-3321
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• 1996

A fundamental study in cooling and solidification process focused on ice storage was performed, including the interesting phenomena of density inversion, supercooling and dendritic ice. A numerical study was performed for natural convection and ice formation in the cooling and freezing processes with supercooling in a space between double cylinders. When water was cooled under the freezing point by a cooling wall in a cavity, solidification was not started at once, but a subcooled region was formed near the wall. Especially, when the cooling rate was low, subcooled region extended to a wide area. However, after a few minutes, supercooling is released by some triggers. Dendritic ice is suddenly formed within a subcooled region, and a dense ice layer begins to be developed from the cooling wall. Due to the difficulties, most previous studies on solidification process with numerical methods had not treated the supercooling phenomena, i.e. the case considering only the growth of dense ice. In this study, natural convection and ice formation considering existence of supercooling and dendritic ice were analyzed numerically with using finite difference method and boundary fixing method. The results of numerical analysis were well compared with the experimental results.