Pressure Measurements in a Wire-Wrapped 61-Pin Hexagonal Fuel Bundle

Vaghetto, Rodolfo; Jones, Philip; Goth, Nolan; Childs, Mason; Lee, Saye; Nguyen, Duy Thien; Hassan, Yassin A.

doi:10.1115/1.4038086

Title: Pressure Measurements in a Wire-Wrapped 61-Pin Hexagonal Fuel Bundle

Journal Article · Wed Oct 25 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Fluids Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4038086· OSTI ID:1512275

Vaghetto, Rodolfo ^[1]; Jones, Philip ^[1]; Goth, Nolan ^[1]; Childs, Mason ^[1]; Lee, Saye ^[1]; Nguyen, Duy Thien ^[1]; Hassan, Yassin A. ^[1]

Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

To achieve longer-life liquid-metal fast reactor cores, designers are considering to increase the wall gap of the wire-wrapped hexagonal fuel bundles to account for volumetric void swelling and radiation creep. A new wire-wrapped hexagonal test bundle has been constructed, with a wall gap larger than prior experiments, and experimental pressure drop data have been generated under laminar, transition, and turbulent flow regimes (corresponding to Re of 250–19,000), to complement the existing database of small wall gap experimental bundles. The comparison of the experimental data set with the predictions of four existing correlations (Baxi and Dalle Donne, Cheng and Todreas detailed (CTD), Kirillov, and Rehme) showed general agreement between data and the selected correlations. However, the CTD correlation most accurately predicted the experimental trend and the transition between flow regimes. The analysis of the experimental data also revealed that the larger wall gap size caused a lower bundle pressure drop due to the increased bypass flow area.

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Research Organization:: Areva Federal Services LLC, Federal Way, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: NE0008321

OSTI ID:: 1512275

Journal Information:: Journal of Fluids Engineering, Vol. 140, Issue 3; ISSN 0098-2202

Publisher:: ASMECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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