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IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON


M.Eng EXAMINATION IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 2011
M.Eng EXAMINATION IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 2011
M.Eng EXAMINATION IN MATERIALS 2011


PARTS III AND IV

and


M.Sc. in ADVANCED CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND ASSOCIATED MScs




For Internal Students of Imperial College London


This paper is also taken for the relevant examination
for the Associateship



NUCLEAR THERMAL HYDRAULICS


Friday 6
th
May 2011 10.00-11.30

Answer ALL PARTS of both questions


All questions carry equal marks

THIS EXAMINATION PAPER HAS THREE PAGES IN TOTAL
WHICH INCLUDES THIS COVER SHEET

TURN OVER FOR QUESTIONS









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QUESTION 1

(a) Define the critical heat flux (CHF) condition in the heat flux controlled and
surface temperature controlled situations respectively.
(3 marks)
(b) In an experiment simulating evaporation in a nuclear reactor channel, water
flowing in a 10 mm internal diameter round tube is evaporated by applying a uniform
heat flux of 1.5 MW m
-2


by means of electrical heating. The water mass flux ( m ) is
1000 kg m
-2
s
-1
. At a distance of 0.5 m from the end of the tube, dryout (CHF) occurs
and the remaining 0.5 m of the tube is in the post-dryout region. At the dryout point,
the quality (x) is 0.7. Calculate the tube wall temperature immediately after dryout
assuming that the vapour is saturated at this point and that the heat transfer process is
solely one of heat transfer to the vapour phase with the heat transfer coefficient being
that appropriate to a vapour-only flow. Calculate the wall temperature at the end of
the channel for each of the following assumptions:

(i) The water droplets present in the stream at the dryout point play no
further part in the heat transfer process, i.e. they do not undergo further
evaporation and all of the heat passes into the steam causing it to
become superheated.
(ii) The water drops in the steam at dryout evaporate by heat transfer from
the surrounding vapour in the post-dryout region, thus maintaining the
steam at saturation temperature.

The following physical properties may be assumed:

Vapour specific heat capacity (
pG
c ) = 4.87 kJ kg
-1
K
-1

Saturation temperature (T
sat
) = 550 K
Vapour viscosity (
6
10 3 . 19 )

=
G
N s m
-2

Vapour thermal conductivity
3
10 2 . 60 ) (

=
G
W m
-1
K
-1

Latent heat of vaporisation =
LG
h 1562 kJ kg
-1


In the above calculations, assume that the heat transfer coefficient between the
wall and the steam may be calculated from the equation:

3 / 1 8 . 0
Pr Re 023 . 0
G G
Nu =

where
G
D
Nu

= ,
G
G
x m

= Re and
G
G pG
G
c

= Pr
where D is the tube diameter.
(12 marks)

(c) For an ideal gas, show that the specific heat capacities (J/kg K) at constant
pressure (
p
c ) and constant volume (
v
c ) are given by :


3
and
1 1
p v
kR R
c c
k k
= =


where k is /
p v
c c and R is the gas constant. Note that /
u
R R M = where
u
R is the
Universal Gas Constant ( = 8314 Nm/kg K) and M is the molecular weight of the
gas (kg/kmol).
(6 marks)

(d) Describe the stages of a large break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in a PWR,
showing in a series of sketches, the position of the water at each stage.
(4 marks)


QUESTION 2

(a) Borated crud deposits on PWR cladding can modify the axial flux distribution.
Why is this, and why is the boron added to the coolant anyway?
(3 marks)
(b) It is found that a reasonable model of the crud-modified axial flux distribution
along a PWR channel is:
z ( )=

cos
z
L
|
\

|
.
|
1+ sin
2z
L
|
\

|
.
|
|
\

|
.
|

where the symbols have their usual meanings, and a is a number of magnitude of
order 0.05. Sketch on the same axes the normal and crud-modified thermal energy
generation distribution.
(2 marks)

(c) Show that an expression for the coolant temperature as a function of axial position
in the channel for this flux distribution is:

T z
( )
T
in
=
q
0
L
& mC
p

sin
z
L
|
\

|
.
|
+1
2
3
cos
3

L
z
|
\

|
.
|

(


You may find it helpful to know that cosaxsin2axdx
x
1
x
2

=
2
3a
cos
3
ax
1
cos
3
ax
2
( )
.
(10 marks)

(d) Use this to develop an expression for the cladding surface temperature as a
function of axial position in the channel for this flux distribution. Arrange this
expression in the form that provides the value for crud-free cladding, plus a
perturbation due to the crud.
(10 marks)

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