Basic Thermal-Hydraulics Experiments for Nuclear Engineering Students

Teaching Assistantship Final Report

Syeilendra Pramuditya
Department of Nuclear Engineering Tokyo Institute of Technology March 12, 2013

Introduction

This educational program is intended for new comers in nuclear engineering department

Introduce thermal-hydraulic experimental research Introduce basic experimental techniques Introduce the methods of data acquisition, extraction, and processing Spot welding & Silver brazing Cavitation Single-phase heat transfer Two-phase boiling regimes [New for FY 2013] Condensation apparatus [New for FY 2013] Pool boiling critical heat flux (CHF) apparatus

Experimental activities

Spot Welding & Silver Brazing

Spot welding is one of the most basic experimental techniques. The purpose is to attach thermocouple onto heater pin surface so that temperature measurement can be performed. Silver brazing is part of heater pin construction technique. The purpose is to connect/combine SUS304 pin and copper electrodes.

Spot Welding

Safety goggles

Electric spark

Silver Brazing
Helmet with face protector Air fan

As a TA:

Make sure that the equipments, tools, and materials are all ready Make the students understand about the purpose of the activity Teach students about best practices related to the safety of the activity

Leather gloves

Fire-proof sheet

Cavitation
27.2 6.5

Explain to students: Cavitation is one of the key issues in the LMFR development & design since it can cause component damages. And therefore cavitation must be avoided in reactor operation. Occurrence of cavitation can be identified using the concept of cavitation coefficient Teach the technique to get cavitation coefficient experimentally.
K =

21

10

20 60

30

Cavitation test section

2 2 ( V1 V0 ) 2

P0 P

P0 P

2 V1 2
Mass flow rate calibration curve
1200 1000 y = 1040. 9x - 6. 1218 R 2 = 0. 9783

Pressure calibration curve

0.18 0.16 0.14

(Mpa-a)

()2 (L/ 2 min)2

0.12 0.1 0.08 0.06 0.04

MPa absolute

800 600 400 200

y = 0.0036x + 0.0998 2 R = 0.9992

0.02 0 0 2 4 6 8 mV 10 12 14 16 18

(L/m i n)

0 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% pressure di fference % 100% 120%

mV

21

Single-Phase Heat Transfer

Explain to students: The study of heat transfer is an important part in nuclear engineering research, since the transport of energy from fuel pin to the coolant is governed by heat transfer mechanism. The purpose of the activity is to teach students of obtaining Nusselt number experimentally.

(Tw

Tb

D=13.0mm (O.D.15mm)
L=400mm

d=4.57mm (t 0.28mm)
L1

V
D C 0-10V

(Tin

Nu hDe / k q h= Tw Tb

Test section schematic

Pressure gauge

Safety valve

P P

Heater pin

Thermocouples Assembling the test section

Water loop schematic

Double Monitoring Stations

Double monitoring stations have been arranged Single-phase heat transfer and cavitation experiments could be performed simultaneously Students could have more time to perform the experiments and data acquisitions smoothly

MS1

Large desk

Water loop
Observation monitor

Control panel

MS2
Projector

Door

First monitoring station

Second monitoring station

Two-Phase Boiling Flow Regimes

Explain to students: Two-phase boiling flow is an important aspect in nuclear reactor operation. The phenomenon occurs in steam generator and BWR core. Teach the students about experimental observation of various two-phase boiling regimes.

(Steam flow)

(Mist flow)

(Annular mist flow)

(Churn flow, Froth flow) (Slug flow) BWR (Bubbly flow) PWR (Surface boiling flow) (Liquid flow)

Operation of high speed video camera

Test section

Protective transparent sheet

Thermocouples

High speed camera

Condensation Apparatus [New for FY2013]

Main purpose: give real insights to students, through experiment, about isolation condenser (IC) system typically installed in BWR (such as in Fukushima).

Study of loop-pool heat transfer with phase change. Techniques to estimate overall heat transfer coefficient, latent heat, heat capacity, etc.

Loop

Pool

Pool boiling CHF apparatus [New for FY2013]

Main purpose: give real insights to students, through experiment, about the basics of critical heat flux (CHF).

Experimental measurement technique: Dependency of electrical resistance on temperature (Kanthal vs Platinum). Critical heat flux estimation technique.

Cu electrodes

Coolant

Simulated pin

CADAC data logger and PC to monitor temperatures (via voltage and/or current)

Working Language for the Activities

10

The activities were mainly conducted in English (with the support of the supervising teacher).

Most participants could understand and communicate well. Nevertheless, some (few) had problem to understand and communicate -> can be considered a good point for education.

The manual book for the activities has been partially translated from Japanese into English (to accommodate international students in the future).

Translation Work

11

Translation Work

12

Translation Work

13

Concluding Remarks

14

As a TA: help the students to understand each of the experiment, good preparation, emphasize the importance of safety, support them during the activity (smooth & effective experiment) Students understood the importance of safety, best practices, and standard procedures when doing experimental works Good results could be obtained according to the students reports A number of improvements have been made to this educational program (double monitoring stations, the use of handy talky, megaphone, replacement of orifice, signal noise reduction, improved spot welding technique, etc) The manual book for the activities has been partially translated from Japanese into English Two new apparatuses which can be used in FY 2013 has been constructed and partially tested. The activities are very useful to provide experimental knowledge, skills and real insights, for those whose main work/research is not directly related to experiment (like myself).

~ Thank you very much for your attention ~