Investigation of the thermal conductivity of molten LiF-NaF-KF with experiments, theory, and equilibrium molecular dynamics
Abstract
Molten salts are being proposed for numerous advanced energy applications, including advanced nuclear reactors, concentrating solar power plants, thermal energy storage, and fusion reactors. Accurate knowledge of the thermophysical properties of molten salts directly impact the performance of these energy systems and are essential for design and safety analyses. Thermal conductivity data for fluoride molten salts and mixtures are especially lacking. In this work, experimental measurements of thermal conductivity using the steady-state variable gap technique were performed on eutectic LiF-NaF-KF from 834 to 1195 K. The experiment accounts for radiative, convective, and conductive heat losses. In addition, theoretical and molecular dynamics models are used, from 750 K up to 1300 K, to estimate the thermal conductivity for comparison with the experimental results. The results of experiments show a weak negative deviation of thermal conductivity with temperature, unlike previous experimental results in the literature. The measured thermal conductivity magnitudes agree with the theoretical and molecular dynamics predictions, aside from the data above 1100 K, where heat losses and radiative errors are the most significant, having a 16% maximum deviation from theory. These experimental results provide new thermal conductivity data for the LiF-NaF-KF system and further validation of the predictive models. Themore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3]
- The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Polytechnique Montréal, QC (Canada)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1875361
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; RGPIN-2021-03279
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Molecular Liquids
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 361; Journal Issue: n/a; Journal ID: ISSN 0167-7322
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; FLiNaK; Variable gap technique; Thermal conductivity; Radiative thermal transport; Molecular dynamics simulations; Molten salts
Citation Formats
Gallagher, Ryan C., Birri, Anthony, Russell, Nick G., Phan, Anh-Thu, and Gheribi, Aïmen E. Investigation of the thermal conductivity of molten LiF-NaF-KF with experiments, theory, and equilibrium molecular dynamics. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.molliq.2022.119151.
Gallagher, Ryan C., Birri, Anthony, Russell, Nick G., Phan, Anh-Thu, & Gheribi, Aïmen E. Investigation of the thermal conductivity of molten LiF-NaF-KF with experiments, theory, and equilibrium molecular dynamics. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2022.119151
Gallagher, Ryan C., Birri, Anthony, Russell, Nick G., Phan, Anh-Thu, and Gheribi, Aïmen E. Fri .
"Investigation of the thermal conductivity of molten LiF-NaF-KF with experiments, theory, and equilibrium molecular dynamics". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2022.119151. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1875361.
@article{osti_1875361,
title = {Investigation of the thermal conductivity of molten LiF-NaF-KF with experiments, theory, and equilibrium molecular dynamics},
author = {Gallagher, Ryan C. and Birri, Anthony and Russell, Nick G. and Phan, Anh-Thu and Gheribi, Aïmen E.},
abstractNote = {Molten salts are being proposed for numerous advanced energy applications, including advanced nuclear reactors, concentrating solar power plants, thermal energy storage, and fusion reactors. Accurate knowledge of the thermophysical properties of molten salts directly impact the performance of these energy systems and are essential for design and safety analyses. Thermal conductivity data for fluoride molten salts and mixtures are especially lacking. In this work, experimental measurements of thermal conductivity using the steady-state variable gap technique were performed on eutectic LiF-NaF-KF from 834 to 1195 K. The experiment accounts for radiative, convective, and conductive heat losses. In addition, theoretical and molecular dynamics models are used, from 750 K up to 1300 K, to estimate the thermal conductivity for comparison with the experimental results. The results of experiments show a weak negative deviation of thermal conductivity with temperature, unlike previous experimental results in the literature. The measured thermal conductivity magnitudes agree with the theoretical and molecular dynamics predictions, aside from the data above 1100 K, where heat losses and radiative errors are the most significant, having a 16% maximum deviation from theory. These experimental results provide new thermal conductivity data for the LiF-NaF-KF system and further validation of the predictive models. The theoretical model was used to map the composition and temperature dependent thermal conductivity of LiF-NaF-KF and the mapping’s deviation from a linear additivity estimation of thermal conductivity. Additionally, this mapping showed the highest deviations from linearity for KF-LiF rich mixtures and increasing deviation with temperature. Notably, the deviation from linearity near the LiF-NaF-KF eutectic composition was around 25%.},
doi = {10.1016/j.molliq.2022.119151},
journal = {Journal of Molecular Liquids},
number = n/a,
volume = 361,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
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