Sorokin A.P.1, Kuzina Yu.A.1,
Denisova N.A.1, Sorokin G.A.2
1 A.I. Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia
2 Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Dolgoprudny, Russia
The results of the experimental studies carried out at the AR-1 stand and calculated using the modified SABENA-3D
computational code for studies of the boiling of liquid metals in model fuel
assemblies in the natural convection mode showed that steady
bubble boiling in model fuel assemblies is observed only in a limited region of
heat fluxes. Its transition to an unstable pulsed shell boiling mode is
determined by various factors. The occurrence of an oscillatory process during
boiling of the coolant in one of the parallel fuel assemblies leads to an
out-of-phase oscillatory process in the other fuel assemblies Subsequently,
oscillations in various circuits are of an antiphase nature. The hydrodynamic
interaction of the circuits over time leads to a significant increase in the
amplitude of fluctuations in the flow rate of the coolant in them (“resonance”
of flow pulsations) and the possible “blocking” or inversion of flow rate of
the coolant in the circuits, an increase in the temperature of the coolant and
the shell of the fuel elements (interchannel instability effect) and, in
ultimately, the occurrence of a heat transfer crisis. The cartogram of the flow
regimes of a two-phase liquid metal flow differs significantly from the
cartogram for water. Heat transfer during boiling of
liquid alkali metals in fuel element assemblies and pipes in the range of heat
flux density above 100 kW/m2 is 1.5 times higher than during boiling
in a large volume. The heat transfer coefficients of fuel element simulators
during boiling of liquid metal in models of fuel assemblies in single circuits
and during their parallel operation are consistent with each other. The modified SABENA-3D calculation code can simulate the processes
of heat transfer and hydrodynamic stability of the coolant circulation during
boiling of liquid metal both in single fuel assemblies and in a parallel fuel
assembly system in circuits with natural convection.
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