Heat transfer performance for DCLL blanket with no-wetting insulator walls

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect and heat transfer are two key issues for design of dual coolant lead lithium (DCLL) blanket. Flow channel insert (FCI) has been applied to decouple the liquid metal from the walls to efficiently decline MHD pressure drops and reduce heat losses from the liquid metal for increasing bulk exit temperatures of the blanket. However, there are still big pressure drops and a higher velocity jet located at the gap flow. Moreover, the FCI made from silicon carbide (SiC) constitutes a complex blanket structures which potentially causes special flow phenomena. In the present work, the characteristics of fluid flow and heat transfer in the DCLL blanket channel are investigated for the first wall (FW) sprayed a layer of no-wetting nano coating (NWNC) on its inner surface. The results show that the pressure drop with NWNC wall is oneorder magnitude lower than that with FCI in the general DCLL blanket. The Nusselt number on the NWNC wall is about half of that on the general wall. On this basis, a heat transfer criterion equation of DCLL channel is achieved for the NWNC wall without FCI. The results are compared with that criterion equation of general wall conditions, which indicates the criterion equation can well predict the convection heat transfer of DCLL channel.

Performance investigation of plasma magnetohydrodynamic power generator

A magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） power generator system involves several subjects such as magnetohydrodynamics, plasma physics, material science, and structure mechanics. Therefore, the performance of the MHD power generator is affected by many factors, among which the load coefficient k is of great importance. This paper reveals the effect of some system parameters on the performance by three-dimensional （3D） numerical simulation for a Faraday type MHD power generator using He/Xe as working plasma. The results show that average electrical conductivity increases first and then decreases with the addition of magnetic field intensity. Electrical conductivity reaches the maximum value of 11.05 S/m, while the applied magnetic field strength is B = 1.75 T. When B 〉 3 T, the ionization rate along the midline well keeps stable, which indicates that the ionization rate and three-body recombination rate （three kinds of particles combining to two kinds of particles） are approximately equal, and the relatively stable plasma structure of the mainstream is preserved. Efficiency of power generation of the Faraday type channel increases with an increment of the load factor. However, enthalpy extraction first increases to a certain value, and then decreases with the load factor. The enthalpy extraction rate reaches the maximum when the load coefficient k equals 0.625, which is the best performance of the power generator channel with the maximum electricity production.

Flow field and convective heat transfer of smallscale Taylor-Couette flow induced by end leakage

More and more researchers have paid attention to Taylor-Couette flow whose axial dimension is much larger than other dimensions.However,featured by the limited axial length of the bearing,its flow field and convective heat transfer between the rotator and the stator are highly conglutinated with the leakage at the end of the clearance.An investigation was conducted on the flow field and convective heat transfer of small-scale Taylor-Couette flow induced by end leakage through means of numerical simulation and experimental measurement.The static pressure and temperature of the stator were captured by a micromanometer and a time-resolved infrared camera,respectively.Large Eddy Simulation(LES)was performed to reveal the instantaneous and mean flow field of the shearing flow.Results show that the flow field and convective heat transfer are tightly associated with the presence of end leakage.As approaching the end of the clearance,the flow is dominated by the axial flow induced by the end leakage,and then a series of Taylor vortices gradually distorts and tilts as moving downstream.Along the angular direction,the maximum and minimum static pressures take place near minimum clearance height,respectively.The static pressure along the angular direction and the axial velocity near the minimum clearance height as well as the Nusselt number increase with increases of the rotational Reynolds number and the eccentricity ratio while decreasing with an increase of the dimensionless clearance height.Both natural convection by buoyancy and forced convection by the shearing flow play a significant role in convective heat transfer.Compared with classic Taylor-Couette flow,the occurrence of leakage decreases the maximum static pressure while increasing the minimum static pressure.The formation and evolution of the Taylor vortex are dominated by the axial flow.