ISSN Online: 2377-424X
ISBN Print: 0-85295-345-3
International Heat Transfer Conference 10
THE HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OF ARRAYS OF CYLINDERS IN A BUOYANCY INDUCED CROSSFLOW
Abstract
The paper describes an experiment aimed at measuring the heat transfer from an array of cylinders subjected to a buoyancy induced cross flow. The array consists of a bank of electrically heated and instrumented Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR) fuel cladding segments ('pins'), placed in a natural convection loop. Three different arrangements have been investigated in order to assess the effect of alignment and voidage. The natural convection loop also included two other
independent heaters, so as to decouple the flow from
buoyancy effects local to the test section. The arrangement is placed inside a water cooled pressure vessel, which provides containment as well as forming the cold leg of the thermosyphon.
It has been possible to verify that, for conditions of small local buoyancy, the pin arrays behave as if the (cross) flow were forced. For the case when only the array is heated, it has been observed that existing correlations, mostly based on single cylinder data, can greatly underestimate the performance of low voidage arrays.
It has been possible to verify that, for conditions of small local buoyancy, the pin arrays behave as if the (cross) flow were forced. For the case when only the array is heated, it has been observed that existing correlations, mostly based on single cylinder data, can greatly underestimate the performance of low voidage arrays.