Study The Effect of Gas Flow velocity on the Heat Transfer Coefficients in the Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR)

Muhna Alshammari1,3, Hayder Al-Naseri4 and Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan2,3

2Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department

3Mining and Nuclear Engineering Department

Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409, USA

1King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

4 Chemical Engineering Department, Tikrit University, Tikrit-Iraq

Abstract:

In the last decade, numerous investigations exhibited more interesting on the pebble bed coolant gas reactor, which is a new generation of nuclear plant (NGNP) so-called nuclear reactor generation IV.

The phenomenon of heat transfer in pebble bed reactor is a critical parameter that contributes in design, scale-up and operating the reactor on a safe way with high efficiency (performance). The heat transfer in the pebble bed reactor occurs by three types (conduction, convection, and radiation). Therefore, in this study, the effect of the coolant gas velocity on the overall and the cross-sectional heat transfer coefficients at a different axial location has been investigated. In order to conduct that, the Multiphase Flow and Multiphase Reactor Engineering Application Laboratory (mFReal) at Missouri University of S&T developed set-up system to mimic the PBR structure using an advanced heat transfer probe to measure the local heat transfer coefficients in the pebble bed reactor. The gas velocity that calculated based on the free cross-sectional area for flow column was varied from 0.02-2.0 m/s to covers the laminar and turbulent flow regimes. The experimental results illustrated that heat transfer coefficients increased with increase the gas velocity and a good agreement with the theoretical correlations. More results and figures will be illustrated in the conference.