Flow distribution in the air cooler of HTGR passive cavity cooling system

Passive Cavity Cooling System (PCCS) is an important safety related system for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). Air cooler is one of the key components of this system. The non-uniform flow distribution is a common issue encountered in similar Parallel Tube Heat Exchanger (PTHX). Improving flow uniformity is favorable for both thermal hydraulic performance and structure safety. In this work, the flow distribution characteristics of a compact parallel tube air cooler with U-type header arrangement are theoretically and numerically investigated. First, a theoretical discrete model is proposed for flow distribution in PTHX. It reveals that the static pressure distributions in the headers are influenced by static pressure recovery, friction resistance and local pressure drop, which is directly related with flow uniformity. Then, the flow uniformity of Z-type and U-type header arrangements is numerically investigated and compared in detail. Moreover, the effects of thermal hydraulic parameter and geometrical parameter on flow uniformity are successively evaluated. Numerical results show that the flow uniformity of PCCS air cooler with U-type header arrangement is more excellent than that of Z-type header arrangement. Thermal hydraulic parameters, such as tube-side water temperature and mass flow rate, have little impact on flow uniformity. Nevertheless, the flow distribution characteristics are very sensitive to the geometrical parameters, including the insertion angle configuration, the flow area ratio of header to parallel heat transfer tubes (AR) and the cross-sectional area ratio of distribution header to collection header (DCR). Reasonable insertion angle configuration and decreasing AR can effectively enhance the flow uniformity of PCCS air cooler. For header match, it should be avoided that the distribution header diameter below the collection header diameter. As a result, the optimal structure design determined in this work is an air cooler with U-type header arrangement, where the inlet insertion angle is 0 degrees, the outlet insertion angle is 180 degrees, and the diameters of distribution header and collection header are both 120 mm. Its flow uniformity is improved by more than 50% compared with present design. This work reports a promising design modification, as the potential structure optimization for HTGR PCCS air cooler.