Computer modeling of single-cell and multicell thermionic fuel elements

Journal Article · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Nuclear Technology

OSTI ID:248112

Dickinson, J W; Klein, A C ^[1]

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1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering

Modeling efforts are undertaken to perform coupled thermal-hydraulic and thermionic analysis for both single-cell and multicell thermionic fuel elements (TFE). The analysis--and the resulting MCTFE computer code (multicell thermionic fuel element)--is a steady-state finite volume model specifically designed to analyze cylindrical TFEs. It employs an interactive successive overrelaxation solution technique to solve for the temperatures throughout the TFE and a coupled thermionic routine to determine the total TFE performance. The calculated results include temperature distributions in all regions of the TFE, axial interelectrode voltages and current densities, and total TFE electrical output parameters including power, current, and voltage. MCTFE-generated results compare experimental data from the single-cell Topaz-II-type TFE and multicell data from the General Atomics 3H5 TFE to benchmark the accuracy of the code methods.

• OSTI ID: 248112
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Vol. 114, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: May 1996
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
SPACE POWER REACTORS
THERMIONIC FUEL ELEMENTS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
TOPAZ REACTOR
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
M CODES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
THEORETICAL DATA
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems