Prospective Applications of Flow Drag and Noise Reduction Technology for Nuclear Reactors

Flow drag and noise reduction technology is a multidisciplinary field currently relative to hydrodynamics, materials and physics. A comprehensive review of the literature on the principles, limitations and engineering applications of the technology was performed in this paper. Due to restriction of experimental conditions, it is rarely adopted to use to reduce flow resistance associated with noise for nuclear reactors. Assessment of effects of flow drag and noise reduction on circulation efficiency of cooling water and helium gas was done based on riblet structured surface, which would efficiently reduce the flow resistance and noise with high reduction rate and was available to realize for nuclear reactors. Results of this analysis showed that vortex induced in riblet grooves was the dominant factor resulting in flow drag and noise reduction on the riblet structured pipeline inner wall of cooling water and helium gas. Accordingly, higher circulation efficiency and heat transfer efficiency would eventually lead to better performance of nuclear reactors.