Natural convection experiments with a finite-length, vertical, cylindrical heat source in a water-saturated porous medium

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Nucl. Chem. Waste Manage.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-815X(86)90084-7· OSTI ID:5192193

Reda, D C

An experimental effort is under way to investigate convective heat transfer in liquid-saturated porous media utilizing a geometry, and hydrodynamic/thermal boundary conditions, relevant to nuclear waste isolation in geologic repositories. In the present work, measurements were made of the transient and steady-state thermal fields throughout an annular region bounded by vertical, coaxal cylinders. The inner cylinder was comprised of a finite-length heat source, supported above and below by insulating sections; the outer cylinder was maintained at a constant temperature. An overlying liquid layer was used to impose a permeable upper-surface boundary condition; this layer was maintained at a constant temperature equal to that of the outer cylinder. All properties of the porous medium, including porosity, permeability, and effective thermal conductivity were measured. Results obtained in this effort showed steady-state heater surface temperatures (at constant heater power) to increase with increasing vertical distance due to buoyancy-driven upflow. The measured steady-state radial temperature drop across the annulus w3as found to systematically depart from the finite-length-cylinder conduction solution as heater power was increased, consistent with the presence of increased convective-energy transport. Comparisons between measured results and numerical predictions obtained using the finite element code MARIAH showed good agreement, thereby contributing to the qualification of this code for repository-design applications.

• Research Organization: Fluid and Thermal Sciences Dept., Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM 87185
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5192193
• Journal Information: Nucl. Chem. Waste Manage.; (United States), Journal Name: Nucl. Chem. Waste Manage.; (United States) Vol. 6:1; ISSN NCWMD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
CONTROL
CONVECTION
CYLINDERS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
HEATERS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HYDRODYNAMICS
M CODES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MECHANICS
NATURAL CONVECTION
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PERMEABILITY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POROSITY
POROUS MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SATURATION
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSIENTS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER SATURATION