A comprehensive analysis method is proposed to resolve the problem of simulating a complex thermo-flow with two kinds of distinct characteristic length in the dry gas seal, and a conjugated simulation of the complicated heat transfer and the gas film flow is carried out by using the commercial CFD software CFX. By using the proposed method, a three dimensional of velocity and pressure field in the gas film flow and the temperature distribution within the sealing rings are investigated for three kinds of film thickness, respectively. A comparison of thermo-hydrodynamics of the dry gas seals is conducted between the sealed gas of air and helium. The latter one is used in a helium circulator for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). From comparisons and discussions of a series of simulation results, it will be found that the comprehensive proposal is effective and simulation results are reasonable, and the maximum temperature rise in the dry gas seal is within the acceptable range of HTGR safety requirements.

Volume Subject Area:
Computational Fluid Dynamics of Nuclear Engineering Applications and Systems
Topics:
Helium, Thermohydrodynamics, Very high temperature reactors, Film flow, Simulation results, Computational fluid dynamics, Computer software, Film thickness, Flow (Dynamics), Heat transfer, Pressure, Safety, Sealing (Process), Simulation, Temperature, Temperature distribution
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Copyright © 2011
 by ASME
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