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Title: Natural convection heat transfer for a staggered array of heated, horizontal cylinders within a rectangular enclosure

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/658136· OSTI ID:658136

This thesis presents the results of an experimental investigation of natural convection heat transfer in a staggered array of heated cylinders, oriented horizontally within a rectangular enclosure. The main purpose of this research was to extend the knowledge of heat transfer within enclosed bundles of spent nuclear fuel rods sealed within a shipping or storage container. This research extends Canaan`s investigation of an aligned array of heated cylinders that thermally simulated a boiling water reactor (BWR) spent fuel assembly sealed within a shipping or storage cask. The results are presented in terms of piecewise Nusselt-Rayleigh number correlations of the form Nu = C(Ra){sup n}, where C and n are constants. Correlations are presented both for individual rods within the array and for the array as a whole. The correlations are based only on the convective component of the heat transfer. The radiative component was calculated with a finite-element code that used measured surface temperatures, rod array geometry, and measured surface emissivities as inputs. The correlation results are compared to Canaan`s aligned array results and to other studies of natural convection in horizontal tube arrays.

Research Organization:
Texas Univ., Coll. of Engineering, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76OR00033
OSTI ID:
658136
Report Number(s):
DOE/OR/00033-T774; ON: DE97053806; TRN: 98:011050
Resource Relation:
Other Information: TH: Thesis (M.S.); PBD: Dec 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English