Very high temperature reactor (VHTR) is one of the candidates for Generation IV reactor. It can be continuously operated with average core outlet temperature between 900°C and 950°C, so the core temperature is one of the key features in the design of VHTR. Bypass flow in the prismatic core of VHTR is not a designed feature but it is inevitable due to the combination of several causes and considerably affects the core temperature. Although bypass flow has been studied extensively, the current status of research on thermal/hydraulic core flow of VHTR is far from completion. Present study is the starting of bypass flow characteristic investigation using small-scale model that will fulfill understandings of bypass flow in the prismatic core of VHTR. Bypass flow experiments are conducted by using three small-scale models of prismatic blocks. They are stacked in a test section to form bypass gaps of single-layer blocks as exist in prismatic core of VHTR. Three bypass gap widths set in air and water flow experiments are 6.1, 4.4 and 2.7 mm. Experimental data shows that bypass flow fraction depends on bypass gap width and downstream condition of prismatic blocks, while pressure drop of flow through bypass gaps depends on bypass gap width only. Bypass flow simulations are performed by using STAR-CCM+ software after meshing parameters were determined from simulation exercises and grid independent study. Three turbulence models are employed in all bypass flow simulations which are stopped at physical time of 100 seconds marching by implicit unsteady scheme. Bypass flow fraction, coolant channel Reynolds number and bypass gap Reynolds number from air flow and water flow simulations with 6.1-mm bypass gap width are very close to experimental data. This is because bypass flow fractions from experiments at this bypass gap width are matched in construction of the simulation models. Discrepancies between results from simulations and experiments for remaining gaps increase when bypass gap width becomes smaller. Finally, guidelines for bypass flow experiments and simulations are drawn from the data in present study to improve bypass flow study in the future.

Very High Temperature Rector (VHTR) had been designated as one of those promising reactors for the Next Generation (IV) Nuclear Plant (NGNP). For a prismatic core VHTR, one of the most crucial design considerations is the bypass flow and crossflow effect. The bypass flow occurs when the coolant flow into gaps between fuel blocks. These gaps are formed as a result of carbon expansion and shrinkage induced by radiations and manufacturing and installation errors. Hot spots may appear in the core if the large portion of the coolant flows into bypass gaps instead of coolant channels in which the cooling efficiency is much higher. A preliminary three dimensional steady-state CFD analysis was performed with commercial code STARCCM+ 6.04 to investigate the bypass flow and crossflow phenomenon in the prismatic VHTR core. The k-ε turbulence model was selected because of its robustness and low computational cost with respect to a decent accuracy for varied flow patterns. The wall treatment used in the present work is two-layer all y+ wall treatment to blend the wall laws to estimate the shear stress. Uniform mass flow rate was chose as the inlet condition and the outlet condition was zero gauge pressure outlet. Grid independence study was performed and the results indicated that the discrepancy of the solution due to the mesh density was within 2% of the bypass flow fraction. The computational results showed that the bypass flow fraction was around 12%. Furthermore, the presence of the crossflow gap resulted in a up to 28% reduction of the coolant in the bypass flow gap while mass flow rate of coolant in coolant channels increased by around 5%. The pressure drop at the inlet due to the sudden contraction in area could be around 1kpa while the value was about 180 Pa around the crossflow gap region. The error analysis was also performed to evaluate the accumulated errors from the process of discretization and iteration. It was found that the total error was around 4% and the variation for the bypass flow fraction was within 1%.

The once through steam generator (OTSG) is a single pass counter flow heat exchanger in which primary pressurized water from the core is circulated. Main Feedwater is injected in an annular gap on the outer periphery of the steam generator shroud such that it aspirates steam to preheat the feedwater to saturation temperature. An important component of the OTSG and enhanced once through steam generator (EOTSG) is the auxiliary feedwater system (AFW), which is used during accident/transient scenarios to remove residual heat by injecting water through jets along the outer periphery of the heat exchanger core directly on to the tubes at the top of the OTSG. The intention is for the injected water, which is subcooled, to spread into the tube nest and wet as many tubes as possible. In this project, the main objectives were to use first principles Computational Fluid Dynamics to predict the number of wetted tubes versus flow rate in the EOTSG at the AFW injection location above the top tube support plate. To perform the fluid analysis, the losses in the bypass leakage flow and broached hole leakage flow were first quantified and then used to model a 1/8th sector of the EOTSG. Using user defined functions (UDF), the loss coefficients of the leakage flows were implemented on the 1/8th sector of the EOTSG computational model to provide boundary conditions at the bypass flow and leakage flow locations With this method, the number of tubes wetted in the sector of EOTSG for various AFW flow rates was found. Results showed that the number of wetted tubes was in very close agreement to that predicted by experimental-analytical methods by the sponsor, AREVA. With the maximum flow rate of 65 l/s a total of 318 tubes were wetted and the percentage of tubes wetted with broached holes was 8.7%. The analysis on the bypass leakage flow showed that the loss coefficients was a function of the mass flow rate or the flow Reynolds number through the gap and it increased as the Reynolds number increased from 300 to 1600. The experimental and computational loss coefficients agree to within 15% of each other. In contrast, the constant loss coefficient of 1.3 used by AREVA was much higher than that obtained in this study, particularly in the low Reynolds number range. As the Reynolds number approached 3000, the loss coefficients from this study approached the value of 1.3. This value of the loss coefficient was implemented for the bypass flow leakage in the 1/8th sector of the EOTSG model. The analysis on the broached hole leakage flow was performed using a single hole, five holes, and one, two, four and eight rows of broached holes in order to characterize the loss coefficients. The one hole and five hole computational models were validated with experiments. The computational models showed the presence of voids in the leakage flow through the tube support plate (TSP), which were not observed (visually) in the experiments. The characterization of the broached hole leakage in the one, two and four rows showed that the loss coefficient of the control broached hole increased as the number of rows increased. These results indicated that for the same height of water on the TSP, the resistance to leakage flow increased as the number of tubes increased. They also indicated that leakage flow through the broached holes was not solely a function of the height of water above the TSP but also the surrounding geometrical topology and the flow characteristics. However, the analysis done for eight rows showed that the loss coefficient became constant after a certain number of rows as the loss coefficient differed by only 5% from the results of the four rows. From these results it was determined that the loss coefficient asymptotes to an estimated value of 4.0 which was implemented in the broached hole leakage flow in the 1/8th sector of the EOTSG. Computational models of the 1/8th sector of the EOTSG were implemented with the respective loss coefficients for the bypass and leakage flows. Results showed that as the AFW flow rate increased, the percentage wetted tubes increased. The data matched closely with AREVA's experimental-analytical model for flow rates of 14.5 l/s and higher. It was also deduced that complete wetting of the tubes is not possible at the maximum AFW flow rate of 65 l/s. / Master of Science

In this study a setup is designed and constructed in the Hydromechanics Laboratory of Middle East Technical University in order to observe the flow through grate inlets under different flow and geometry conditions. The rate of interception of flow is determined over a rectangular channel through preliminary experiments run on the tilting flume. The performance of the new set setup has been examined and grate efficiency is obtained both in terms of longitudinal slope and the Froude number. The results which are obtained show that the setup can be used to conduct experiments to obtain a general expression for grate efficiency.

This study numerically examines the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of finned tube heat exchangers with staggered and inline tube layout for a range of tube pitch. The first part of the thesis considers the case where the heat exchanger is placed in fully ducted airflow. The simulations indicate that the performance reduced considerably for the staggered tube layout with an increase in the tube pitch, but a minimal difference for the inline tube arrangement. The effects of other geometrical parameters like fin pitch and the number of tube rows are then presented. Finally, a correlation for fin and tube heat exchangers with inline tube layout is proposed based on 280 simulations for 70 different configurations. The proposed heat transfer correlation can describe the database within ±8% discrepancy while the friction factor correlation can correlate the dataset within a ±10% discrepancy. The mean deviations for heat transfer and friction factor correlations are 4.3% and 5.4%. An important factor that influences the performance of flat plate and finned tube heat exchangers is when there is bypass flow around the heat exchanger. The next section of this thesis numerically investigates the partially ducted inline fin and tube heat exchanger with side bypass. The effects of the side clearance and the Reynolds number on the heat transfer and the pressure drop performance of the heat exchanger are presented. The simulations indicate that the heat transfer performance depreciates by more than 25% for infinite side clearance. The study then compares the pressure difference observed for entry, exit and the friction pressure drop with the various correlations available in the literature. Finally, the heat transfer and pressure drop performance for staggered and inline tube layouts are compared. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Turbulent flows and coherent structures emerging within turbulent flow fields have been extensively studied for the past few decades and a wide variety of experimental and numerical techniques have been developed for measurement and analysis of turbulent flows. The complex nature of turbulence requires methods that can accurately estimate its highly chaotic spatial and temporal behavior. Some of the classical cases of turbulent flows with simpler geometries have been well characterized by means of the existing experimental techniques and numerical models. Nevertheless, since most turbulent fields are of complex geometries; there is an increasing interest in the study of turbulent flows through models with more complicated geometries. In this dissertation, characteristics of turbulent flows through two different facilities with complex geometries are studied applying two different experimental methods. The first study involves the investigation of turbulent impinging jets through a staggered array of rods with or without crossflow. Such flows are crucial in various engineering disciplines. This experiment aimed at modeling the coolant flow behavior and mixing phenomena within the lower plenum of a Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). Dynamic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Matched Index of Refraction (MIR) techniques were applied to acquire the turbulent velocity fields within the model. Some key flow features that may significantly enhance the flow mixing within the test section or actively affect some of the structural components were identified in the velocity fields. The evolution of coherent structures within the flow field is further investigated using a Snapshot Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) technique. Furthermore, a comparative POD method is proposed and successfully implemented for identification of the smaller but highly influential coherent structures which may not be captured in the full-field POD analysis. The second experimental study portrays the coolant flow through the core of an annular pebble bed VHTR. The complex geometry of the core and the highly turbulent nature of the coolant flow passing through the gaps of fuel pebbles make this case quite challenging. In this experiment, a high frequency Hot Wire Anemometry (HWA) system is applied for velocity measurements and investigation of the bypass flow phenomena within the near wall gaps of the core. The velocity profiles within the gaps verify the presence of an area of increased velocity close to the outer reflector wall; however, the characteristics of the coolant flow profile is highly dependent on the gap geometry and to a less extent on the Reynolds number of the flow. The time histories of the velocity are further analyzed using a Power Spectra Density (PSD) technique to acquire information about the energy content and energy transfer between eddies of different sizes at each point within the gaps.

The path to future aero-engines with more efficient engine architectures requires advanced thermal management technologies to handle the demand of refrigeration and lubrication. Oil systems, holding a double function as lubricant and coolant circuits, require supplemental cooling sources to the conventional fuel based cooling systems as the current oil thermal capacity becomes saturated with future engine developments. The present research focuses on air/oil coolers, which geometrical characteristics and location are designed to minimize aerodynamic effects while maximizing the thermal exchange. The heat exchangers composed of parallel fins are integrated at the inner wall of the secondary duct of a turbofan. The analysis of the interaction between the three-dimensional high velocity bypass flow and the heat exchangers is essential to evaluate and optimize the aero-thermodynamic performances, and to provide data for engine modeling. The objectives of this research are the development of engine testing methods alternative to flight testing, and the characterization of the aerothermal behavior of different finned heat exchanger configurations. A new blow-down wind tunnel test facility was specifically designed to replicate the engine bypass flow in the region of the splitter. The annular sector type test section consists on a complex 3D geometry, as a result of three dimensional numerical flow simulations. The flow evolves over the splitter duplicated at real scale, guided by helicoidally shaped lateral walls. The development of measurement techniques for the present application involved the design of instrumentation, testing procedures and data reduction methods. Detailed studies were focused on multi-hole and fine wire thermocouple probes. Two types of test campaigns were performed dedicated to: flow measurements along the test section for different test configurations, i.e. in the absence of heat exchangers and in the presence of different heat exchanger geometries, and heat transfer measurements on the heat exchanger. As a result contours of flow velocity, angular distributions, total and static pressures, temperatures and turbulence intensities, at different bypass duct axial positions, as well as wall pressures along the test section, were obtained. The analysis of the flow development along the test section allowed the understanding of the different flow behaviors for each test configuration. Comparison of flow variables at each measurement plane permitted quantifying and contrasting the different flow disturbances. Detailed analyses of the flow downstream of the heat exchangers were assessed to characterize the flow in the fins¿ wake region. The aerodynamic performance of each heat exchanger configuration was evaluated in terms of non dimensional pressure losses. Fins convective heat transfer characteristics were derived from the infrared fin surface temperature measurements through a new methodology based on inverse heat transfer methods coupled with conductive heat flux models. The experimental characterization permitted to evaluate the cooling capacity of the investigated type of heat exchangers for the design operational conditions. Finally, the thermal efficiency of the heat exchanger at different points of the flight envelope during a typical commercial mission was estimated by extrapolating the convective properties of the flow to flight conditions. / Villafañe Roca, L. (2013). Experimental Aerothermal Performance of Turbofan Bypass Flow Heat Exchangers [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/34774

No description available.

The fate of the carbon and nitrogen in dairy farm effluent (DFE) applied onto soil was investigated through laboratory experiments and field lysimeter studies. They resulted in the development and testing of a complex carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) simulation model (CaNS-Eff) of the soil-plant-microbial system. To minimise the risk of contamination of surface waters, regulatory authorities in New Zealand promote irrigation onto land as the preferred treatment method for DFE. The allowable annual loading rates for DFE, as defined in statutory regional plans are based on annual N balance calculations, comparing N inputs to outputs from the farming system. Little information is available, however, to assess the effects that these loading rates have on the receiving environment. It is this need, to understand the fate of land-applied DFE and develop a tool to describe the process, that is addressed in this research. The microbially mediated net N mineralisation from DFE takes a central role in the turnover of DFE, as the total N in DFE is dominated by organic N. In a laboratory experiment, where DFE was applied at the standard farm loading rate of 68 kg N ha⁻¹, the net C mineralisation from the DFE was finished 13 days after application and represented 30% of the applied C, with no net N mineralisation being measured by Day 113. The soluble fraction of DFE appeared to have a microbial availability similar to that of glucose. The low and gradually changing respiration rate measured from DFE indicated a semi-continuous substrate supply to the microbial biomass, reflecting the complex nature and broad range of C compounds in DFE. The repeated application of DFE will gradually enhance the mineralisable fraction of the total soil organic N and in the long term increase net N mineralisation. To address the lack of data on the fate of faecal-N in DFE, a ¹⁵N-labelled faecal component of DFE was applied under two different water treatments onto intact soil cores with pasture growing on them. At the end of 255 days, approximately 2% of the applied faecal ¹⁵N had been leached, 11 % was in plant material, 11 % was still as effluent on the surface, and 40% remained in the soil (39% as organic N). Unmeasured gaseous losses and physical losses from the soil surface of the cores supposedly account for the remaining ¹⁵N (approximately 36%). Separate analysis of the total and ammonium nitrogen contents and ¹⁵N enrichments of the DFE and filtered sub-samples (0.5 mm, 0.2µm) showed that the faecal-N fraction was not labelled homogeneously. Due to this heterogeneity, which was exacerbated by the filtration of DFE on the soil surface, it was difficult to calculate the turnover of the total faecal-N fraction based on ¹⁵N results. By making a simplifying assumption about the enrichment of the ¹⁵N in the DFE that infiltrated the soil, the contribution from DFE-N to all plant available N fractions including soil inorganic N was estimated to have been approximately 11 % of the applied DFE-N. An initial two-year study investigating the feasibility of manipulating soil water conditions through controlled drainage to enhance denitrification from irrigated DFE was extended a further two years for this thesis project. The resulting four-year data set provided the opportunity to evaluate the sustainability of DFE application onto land, an extended data set against which to test the adequacy of CaNS-Eff, and to identify the key processes in the fate of DFE irrigated onto soil under field conditions. In the final year of DFE irrigation, 1554 kg N ha⁻¹ of DFE-N was applied onto the lysimeters, with the main removal mechanism being pasture uptake (700 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ removed). An average of 193 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ was leached, with 80% of this being organic N. The nitrate leaching decreased with increasing soil moisture conditions through controlled drainage. At the high DFE loading rate used, the total soil C and N, pH and the microbial biomass increased at different rates over the four years. The long-term sustainability of the application of DFE can only be maintained when the supply of inorganic N is matched by the demand of the pasture. The complex simulation model (CaNS-Eff) of the soil-plant-microbial system was developed to describe the transport and transformations of C and N components in effluents applied onto the soil. The model addresses the shortcomings in existing models and simulates the transport, adsorption and filtration of both dissolved and particulate components of an effluent. The soil matrix is divided into mobile and immobile flow domains with convective flow of solutes occurring in the mobile fraction only. Diffusion is considered to occur between the micropore and mesopore domains both between and within a soil layer, allowing dissolved material to move into the immobile zone. To select an appropriate sub-model to simulate the water fluxes within CaNS-Eff, the measured drainage volumes and water table heights from the lysimeters were compared to simulated values over four years. Two different modelling approaches were compared, a simpler water balance model, DRAINMOD, and a solution to Richards' equation, SWIM. Both models provided excellent estimation of the total amount of drainage and water table height. The greatest errors in drainage volume were associated with rain events over the summer and autumn, when antecedent soil conditions were driest. When soil water and interlayer fluxes are required at small time steps such as during infiltration under DFE-irrigation, SWIM's more mechanistic approach offered more flexibility and consequently was the sub-model selected to use within CaNS-Eff. Measured bromide leaching from the lysimeters showed that on average 18% of the bromide from an irrigation event bypassed the soil matrix and was leached in the initial drainage event. This bypass mechanism accounted for the high amount of organic N leached under DFE-irrigation onto these soils and a description of this bypass process needed to be included in CaNS-Eff. Between 80 and 90% of the N and C leached from the lysimeters was particulate (> 0.2 µm in size), demonstrating the need to describe transport of particulate material in CaNS-Eff. The filtration behaviour of four soil horizons was measured by characterising the size of C material in a DFE, applying this DFE onto intact soil cores, and collecting and analyzing the resulting leachate using the same size characterisation. After two water flushes, an average of 34% of the applied DFE-C was leached through the top 0-50 mm soil cores, with a corresponding amount of 27% being leached from the 50-150 mm soil cores. Most of the C leaching occurred during the initial DFE application onto the soil. To simulate the transport and leaching of particulate C, a sub-model was developed and parameterised that describes the movement of the effluent in terms of filtering and trapping the C within a soil horizon and then washing it out with subsequent flow events. The microbial availability of the various organic fractions within the soil system are described in CaNS-Eff by availability spectra of multiple first-order decay functions. The simulation of microbial dynamics is based on actual consumption of available C for three microbial biomass populations: heterotrophs, nitrifiers and denitrifiers. The respiration level of a population is controlled by the amount of C that is available to that population. This respiration rate can vary between low level maintenance requirements, when very little substrate is available, and higher levels when excess substrate is available to an actively growing population. The plant component is described as both above and below-ground fractions of a rye grass-clover pasture. The parameter set used in CaNS-Eff to simulate the fate of DFE irrigated onto the conventionally drained lysimeter treatments over three years with a subsequent 10 months non-irrigation period was derived from own laboratory studies, field measurements, experimental literature data and published model studies. As no systematic calibration exercise was undertaken to optimise these parameters, the parameter set should be considered as "initial best estimates" and not as a calibrated data set on which a full validation of CaNS-Eff could be based. Over the 42 months of simulation, the cumulative drainage from CaNS-Eff for the conventionally drained DFE lysimeter was always within the 95% CI of the measured value. On the basis of individual drainage bulking periods, CaNS-Eff was able to explain 92% of the variation in the measured drainage volumes. On an event basis the accuracy of the simulated water filled pore space (WFPS) was better than that of the drainage volume, with an average of 70% of the simulated WFPS values being within the 95% CI for the soil layers investigated, compared to 44% for the drainage volumes. Overall the hydrological component of CaNS-Eff, which is based on the SWIM model, could be considered as satisfactory for the purposes of predicting the soil water status and drainage volume from the conventionally drained lysimeter treatment for this study. The simulated cumulative nitrate leaching of 4.7 g NO₃-N m⁻² over the 42 months of lysimeter operation was in good agreement to the measured amount of 3.0 (± 2.7) g NO₃-N m⁻². Similarly, the total simulated ammonium leaching of 2.7g NH₄- N m⁻² was very close to the measured amount of 2.5 (± 1.35) g NH₄- N m⁻² , however the dynamics were not as close to the measured values as with the nitrate leaching. The simulated amount of organic N leached was approximately double that measured, and most of the difference originated from the simulated de-adsorption of the dissolved fraction of organic N during the l0-month period after the final DFE irrigation. The 305 g C m⁻² of simulated particulate C leached was close to the measured amount of 224 g C m⁻² over the 31 months of simulation. The dissolved C fraction was substantially over-predicted. There was good agreement in the non-adsorbed and particulate fractions of the leached C and N in DFE. However, the isothermic behaviour of the adsorbed pools indicated that a non-reversible component needed to be introduced or that the dynamics of the de-adsorption needed to be improved. Taking into account that the parameters were not calibrated but only "initial best estimates", the agreement in the dynamics and the absolute amounts between the measured and simulated values of leached C and N demonstrated that CaNS-Eff contains an adequate description of the leaching processes following DFE irrigation onto the soil. The simulated pasture N production was in reasonable agreement with the measured data. The simulated dynamics and amounts of microbial biomass in the topsoil layers were in good agreement with the measured data. This is an important result as the soil microbial biomass is the key transformation station for organic materials. Excepting the topsoil layer, the simulated total C and N dynamics were close to the measured values. The model predicted an accumulation of C and N in the topsoil layer as expected, but not measured. Although no measurements were available to compare the dynamics and amounts of the soil NO₃-N and NH₄-N, the simulated values appear realistic for an effluent treatment site and are consistent with measured pasture data. Considering the large amount of total N and C applied onto the lysimeters over the 42 months of operation (4 t ha⁻¹ of N and 42 t ha⁻¹0f C), the various forms of C and N in dissolved and particulate DFE as well as in returned pasture, and that the parameters used in the test have not been calibrated, the simulated values from CaNS-Eff compared satisfactorily to the measured data.

No description available.