This work can be viewed in three separate sections, each of which build off of the prior. The first part of this study examined the flow in a 1/16th scale calandria test section based on a typical CANDU moderator layout. The experiments utilized forced flow supplied to the vessel and electrical heated rods to mimic the heat flow from calandria tubes. The size of the vessel, flow rates, and power levels were used to scale the experiments such that the provided representative temperature fields. The temperature field inside the vessel was measured and shown to compare well with CFD predictions over a wide range of inlet conditions and power levels. Additionally, this work addressed the scaling distortions in the experiment which occurred due to physical limitations when performing experiments at 1/16 scale (e.g., a smaller number of heater rods with a larger diameter were used in the experiment because at 1/16-scale direct fabrication of 390 fuel channel simulators is not feasible). The work proposed the H factor addition to the Ar. This additional scaling criteria was shown to better maintain the flow regimes expected CANDU moderators by taking into account distortions introduced by surface heating instead of volumetric heating in addition to the reduction in total number of tubes. While this work involved forced convective flows at the inlet of the vessel, in some regions of the calandria buoyancy induced forces were sufficiently high such that these phenomena altered the direction and magnitude of the flows as compared to purely forced convective behavior. Hence further work, discussed below, was initiated to better understand and measure these local phenomena where buoyancy forces are of similar magnitude as those of forced convection. Such local conditions we have terms mixed convection regime for the purposes of this thesis. The second part of this work further examined the mixed convection between a subset of the CANDU calandria tubes, namely how does a lower tube effect the mixed convection heat transfer of the upper tube in an inline arrangement. To isolate and measure the phenomena with sufficient detail, a small number of tubes was studied and advanced diagnostics such as Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) were employed. This study combined fluid velocity, temperature and wall temperature measurements with CFD simulations to develop a mechanistic model and understanding of the effect of natural convection plumes from lower elevations on the natural circulation phenomena on an upper cylinder. Superposition of the natural convection phenomena combined with pseudo forced convection effects from the lower elevation cylinder’s plume was used to model the mixed convection phenomena. This model was shown to perform well, with nearly all data being predicted to with +-20% for experiments performed in this work, and experiments in literature. A major finding from the preceding discussion is the importance of the lower elevation plume velocity on the local phenomena on the upper cylinder. The third section further expanded upon the prior two by replacing the lower cylinder with a diffuser nozzle which could provide a forced convective component with accurately defined velocities. Such measurements allow for accurate definition of the local Ri number and allowed full access for instrumentation to observe the velocity fields. The major contribution of this work was a flow regime map that defined the phenomena around a heated cylinder under mixed convection conditions. Additionally, the establishment of a database of fluid temperature and velocity measurements for a wide range of Ri was also developed and used to further validate CFD predictions. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The study of fluidelastic instability in tube arrays has been ongoing for four decades. Although much research has been conducted, a full understanding of the mechanisms involved is still not available. Designers of cross-flow heat exchangers must depend on experience and empirical data from laboratory studies. As new designs are developed, which differ from these experimental facilities, there is an increased risk of failure due to fluidelastic instability. An experimental program was conducted to examine fluidelastic instability in inline and rotated square finned tube arrays. Three arrays of each geometry type were studied; two with serrated, helically wound finned tubes of different fin densities, and the third, a bare tube which had the same base diameter as the finned tubes. The tube pitch was kept constant to reduce the number of test sections required under this investigation. As a result, the bare tube array has a larger tube pitch ratio than that of previous researchers. The finned tubes under consideration were commercial fmned tubes of a type typically used in the fossil and process industries. The addition of fins to tubes in heat exchangers enhances heat transfer due to the increased surface area and the turbulence produced by the flow moving over the fins. The resulting flow pattern/distribution due to the fins is therefore much more complicated than in bare tube arrays. Previous research has shown that an effective diameter of a finned tube is useful in the prediction of vortex shedding. This concept is used to compare the finned tube results with the existing bare tube array guidelines for fluidelastic instability. All of the tube arrays in the present study have the same tube pitch, and have been scaled to have the same mass ratio. Results for the rotated square arrays show that the use of an effective diameter is beneficial in the scaling of fluidelastic instability and the finned tube results are found to fit within the scatter of the existing data for fluidelastic instability. For in-line square arrays, the results indicate that fins significantly increase the stability threshold. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)