Natural-convection experiments in a liquid-saturated porous medium bounded by vertical coaxial cylinders

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:59490

Reda, D C

An experimental effort is presently underway to investigate natural convection in liquid-saturated porous media utilizing a geometry, and hydrodynamic/thermal boundary conditions, relevant to the problem of nuclear-waste isolation in geologic repositories. During the first phase of this research program, detailed measurements were made of the steady-state thermal field throughout an annular test region boundary by a vertical, constant-heat-flux, inner cylinder and a concentrically-placed, constant-temperature, outer cylinder. An overlying, constant-pressure, fluid layer was utilized to supply a permeable upper surface boundary condition. Results showed the heater surface temperature to increase with increasing vertical distance due to the buoyantly-driven upflow. The measured temperature difference ({Delta}) between the average heater surface temperature and the constant outer-surface temperature was found to be progressively below the straight-line/conduction-only solution for {Delta} vs. power input as the latter was systematically increased. Comparisons between measured results and numerical predictions obtained using the finit-element code MARIAH showed very good agreement, thereby contributing to the qualification of this code for repository-design applications.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 59490
• Report Number(s): SAND--82-0793; ON: DE83007469
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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42 ENGINEERING
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