Master’s of Engineering Project Fall 2010 Viram Pandya

 One proposal for Generation IV reactors is the High Temperature Helium Cooled Reactor  Nuclear core and power production separated into two different pressure vessels (General Atomics design)  Connected by a coaxial tube called the hot gas duct (HGD)  Inner tube transports heated helium from the core to the turbine. Outer tube moves cooler helium back into core

Hot gas duct General Atomics Gas-Turbine Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR) Cross-section of HGD

 Perform a complete thermal analysis on the HGD using analytic techniques and finite element software  Determine heat losses through the HGD under different flow conditions  Determine thermal conductivity of the insulation  Analyze amount of thermal expansion realized  Model simple version of a HGD under different flow conditions on COMSOL

 Review steady state heat conduction through shell  Review concept of critical radius of insulation  Study and apply laminar flow to HGD, followed by laminar flow with heat transfer  Study and apply turbulent flow to HGD, followed by turbulent flow with heat transfer  Create idealized model of HGD using COMSOL

 Adding insulation to cylinder creates contradiction:  Increases conduction resistance of insulation layer  Decreases convection resistance of surface due to increase in surface area  Critical radius achieved when r = k/h