Experimental Studies on the Thermal-Hydraulics of Dowtherm A Through the Pebble Bed With Internal Heat Generation

The Fluoride-salt-cooled High temperature Reactors (FHRs) are an advanced concept using a novel combination of high-temperature coated-particle fuel, low-pressure fluoride-salt coolant and air-Brayton power conversion system. Prismatic fuel or pebble fuel are adopted for the conceptual core designs of FHRs like TMSR-SF, MK1 PB-FHR and SM-AHTR. The high-Prandtl-number FLiBe is mainly adopted as the primary coolant, which specifies in high melting and boiling point and high volumetric capacity. The experimental results obtained from the air, water or inert gas prove reliable for the Prandtl number vary from 0.7 to 7. Little experimental research has been conducted to prove applicability of the above results to the high-Prandtl fluid, fluoride salts in the packed pebble bed. In this paper, a pebble bed experimental facility has been designed and constructed for the FHRs to explore the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of fluoride salts in the reactor pebble bed core. Dowtherm A is adopted as a simulant fluid for the fluoride salts. The cylindrical test section is packed with steel pebbles. The electromagnetic induction heating system is used to provide internal heat source for the pebble beds. The forced flow and convective heat transfer of high-Prandtl-number fluid in the pebble bed with internal heat generation are investigated in the experiment. The fluid inlet temperature and mass flow rate are studied on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics.