Shengyao Jiang

Energy analysis of evaporating thin falling film instability in vertical tube

Abstract The Kelvin–Helmholtz instability of evaporating thin falling film flow in vertical tube is studied by method of energy analysis. Based on the rules that the interfacial capillary waves come from the balance of works done by inertial force, surface tension on phase-change interface, and also capillary force on tube wall, the stability behaviors of falling film with different Reynolds number and different perturbation wavelength are explored in detail. The analysis indicates that the main reason of film breakup by increasing tube wall heat flux is that, the stability effect of capillary adsorbability on tube wall is weakened as surface tension waving is enhanced by improving tube wall temperature.

Experimental and numerical study of stagnant zones in pebble bed

The experimental method (side area method) and DEM simulation have been carried out to analyse the stagnant zone in the quasi-two-dimensional silos. The side area method is a phenomenological method by means of investigating the interface features of different areas composed of different coloured pebbles. Two methods have been discussed to define the stagnant zone. In particular, the area of the stagnant zone has been calculated with the mean-streamline method, and the tracking time of different marking pebbles has been investigated with the stagnant time method to explore the kinematics characteristics of the pebbles. The stagnant zone is crucial for the safety of the pebble-bed reactor, and the practical reactor core must avoid the existence of the stagnant zone. Furthermore, this paper also analyses the effects of bed configuration (the bed height, the base angle, and the friction coefficient) on stagnant zone with the two methods mentioned above. In detail, the bed height shows little impact on the stagnant zones when the bed height exceeds a certain limit, while the base angle has negative prominent correlation with the stagnant zone. The friction coefficient effect seems complicated and presents the great nonlinearity, which deserves to be deeply investigated.

Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Particle Mixing and Conduction in Wavy Drums

ABSTRACT A thermal discrete element method (DEM) is used to simulate particle mixing and heat conduction inside wavy drums to explore the effects of wavy walls. Sinusoidal configurations with different waves on the walls are simulated. The Lacey mixing index is applied to analyze the mixing characteristics. The driven forces from the wavy wall, either positive/negative or effective driven forces, are analyzed to explain the mechanisms of mixing enhancement in the wavy drum. A new control parameter is proposed to explain the mechanism of mixing enhancement. It is found that a locally oscillating effect exists in wavy drums, which is imparted on the bulk rotating motions of particles and enhances the characteristics of particle mixing and heat conduction significantly. Except over large wave numbers and rotating speeds when the flow regime is deteriorated for mixing, the wavy drum is generally beneficial for mixing augmentation as well as conduction enhancement.

Numerical Analysis of Granular Flows in a Silo Bed on Flow Regime Characterization

The flow characteristics of a gravity-driven dense granular flow in a granular bed with a contracted drainage orifice are studied by using discrete element method and quantitative analysis. Three values of discharging rates, ranging from fast to slow dense flows, are investigated. Time variations and derivatives of mean forces and velocities, as well as their respective correlations, are analyzed to quantitatively depict the characteristics of granular flow as well as flow regime categorization. The auto-correlation functions, as well as their Fourier spectrums, are utilized to characterize the differences between the mechanisms of slow and fast granular flows. Finally, it is suggested that the flow regimes of slow and fast flows can be characterized by the kinetic and kinematic flow properties of particles.

Experimental Research and DEM Simulations on Stagnant Region in Pebble Bed Reactor

In pebble bed reactor, pebbles flow very slowly in the stagnant region, which is defined according to the burn-up level of fuel pebbles. It is not allowed to exist in real reactor, since the stay time of fuel pebbles in these regions goes beyond the burn-up level, which increases the risk of leakage of radiation. This research shows that the stagnant region is related to the geometric parameters of the core and the physical properties of pebbles. Experimental setup has been designed to observe the phenomenon of stagnant region, and analysis based on a phenomenological method has been carried out. The phenomenological method is an approach to study the dense pebble flow by means of investigating the interface features of different areas composed of differently colored pebbles. In addition, additional simulations by the DEM model are in good agreement with the experimental results, which successfully verify the availability of the discrete element method. On the basis of these researches, several key parameters have been investigated through DEM simulations, including height of the experimental setup, friction coefficient between pebbles and base cone angle. It is proved that, the stagnant region existing in the pebble bed can be eliminated by improving the design of pebble bed and the physical properties of fuel pebbles. All of these are very helpful to guide the design of pebble-bed reactor.Copyright

Theoretical and experimental study on single-phase natural circulation under inclined conditions

The natural circulation reactor is widely used in marine environments where thermo-hydraulic performance is heavily affected by the heaving, pitching, and inclining of a ship. This paper theoretically and experimentally investigated steady-state single-phase natural circulation under inclined conditions. Results showed that energy transported by natural circulation was proportional to 1.5 times the power of the temperature difference between the hot leg and the cold leg. Furthermore, a parameter, k, was presented that revealed the comprehensive influence of working fluid properties, resistance characteristics, gravity fields, and loop configurations. k was treated as the criterion for the circulation ability of a loop and it also acted as the basis for evaluating and optimizing different designs. Analysis under the guidance of k was confirmed by a series of experiments performed on a symmetrical two-circuit loop. Both theoretical and experimental results showed that the inclination restrained overall circulation due to the decrease in average altitude difference between the steam generators and the electric heater. The disparity in branch circulations increased with the increase in the inclined angle. A loop design consisting of a large altitude difference and a small width was preferable to confine the influence of inclination. However, if the loop width was too small, it caused a severe reduction in the circulation ability for large angle inclinations.

Modeling of the Helium-Heated Steam Reformer for HTR-10

In this study, based on the pseudo-homogeneous one-dimensional model, a steady-state model of the helium-heated steam reformer planned to be connected with the 10 MW high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTR-10) has been developed. Good agreement is shown between the simulating results and experimental data. The influence of main process parameters on the performance with respect to the methane conversion and the hydrogen yield is investigated and discussed. The performance increases remarkably with the increase in the inlet helium temperature when it is lower than 1,000°C. Whereas, the effect becomes weak when the temperature is higher than 1,000°C. The influence of the inlet helium flow rate is not as evident as that of the temperature. The inlet helium pressure and inlet process gas temperature have almost no influence on the performance. The performance increases with the decrease in the inlet process gas pressure. The influence of the inlet process gas flow rate and steam-to-carbon ratio (S/C) is complicated. Optimal values should be chosen for them to obtain a high performance.

Numerical Analyses of Flashing Jet Structure and Droplet Size Characteristics

In this paper, flashing jets are numerically simulated using the MPS method. The boiling mode for flashing is identified as surface boiling mode, based on the postulation of jets from a short nozzle under high depressurization. The Homogeneous Non-equilibrium Relaxation Model (HRM) is used for calculating the evaporation rate of flashing. The numerical simulation results show that flashing jets comprise an inner intact core which is surrounded by two-phase droplet flow. The effect of degree of superheat on the jet topological geometry is investigated. With increasing degree of superheat, the topological shape of flashing jets evolves from cylindrical core for low degree of superheat to cone-shaped core for high degree of superheat, and meanwhile the extinction length comes to decrease and tends asymptotically constant as the injection temperature approaches the saturation temperature corresponding to the injection pressure. The analyses of the droplet size distribution engendered from primary breakup of flashing jets show that: two peaks exist for droplet size distribution at lower degree of superheat; however, merely one peak for higher degree of superheat. From droplet size distribution, it is revealed that the primary breakup mechanism of flashing jets can be attributed to dominant mechanical breakup mode plus enhancement via surface evaporation.

Some Movement Mechanisms and Characteristics in Pebble Bed Reactor

The pebblebed-type high temperature gas-cooled reactor is considered to be one of the promising solutions for generation IV advanced reactors, and the two-region arranged reactor core can enhance its advantages by flattening neutron flux. However, this application is held back by the existence of mixing zone between central and peripheral regions, which results from pebbles’ dispersion motions. In this study, experiments have been carried out to study the dispersion phenomenon, and the variation of dispersion region and radial distribution of pebbles in the specifically shaped flow field are shown. Most importantly, the standard deviation of pebbles’ radial positions in dispersion region, as a quantitative index to describe the size of dispersion region, is gotten through statistical analysis. Besides, discrete element method has been utilized to analyze the parameter influence on dispersion region, and this practice offers some strategies to eliminate or reduce mixing zone in practical reactors.

Experimental and Numerical Study on Pressure Distribution of 90° Elbow for Flow Measurement

Numerical simulation is performed to investigate the pressure distribution of helium gas under high pressure and high temperature for 10 MW High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR-10). Experimental studies are first conducted on a self-built test system to investigate the static pressure distribution of a 90° elbow and validate the credibility of the computational approach. The 90° elbow is designed and manufactured geometrically the same as HTGR-10. Based on the experimental data, comparison of static pressure of inner wall and outer wall of 90° elbow with numerical results is carried out to verify the numerical approach. With high agreement between experimental results and numerical results of water flowing through 90° elbow, flow characteristics of helium gas under high pressure and high temperature are investigated on the confirmed numerical approach for flow measurement. And wall pressure distribution of eight cross sections of 90° elbow is given in detail to represent the entire region of the elbow.