Experimental and fundamental investigations of boiling heat transfer at conditions up to the critical point

本提案旨在开展与原子能发电相关的热工水力研究。研究将涉及高温下的工作流体水，接近其临界点（221.2 bar, 374.15 C）。从这项研究中产生的基础知识将直接有利于加拿大的发电，并可能对化学和石油天然气工业有用。该研究的短期应用重点是为安大略省、魁北克省和新不伦瑞克省的核反应堆工业提供支持，以设计新型反应堆并提高现有反应堆的安全性。本研究主要利用环境安全制冷剂之一的制冷剂-134a作为冷却剂模拟高压蒸汽-水流动。制冷剂的使用提供了一个更安全的测试环境（较低的工作压力40.7 bar和温度101.11 C），更简单的测试要求，更大的灵活性，比蒸汽-水流成本更低。研究主题包括流动沸腾和压降，特别是在简单的几何形状和束中，各种单独的影响对热工参数的影响。在这一点上，在加拿大很少有相关的教育项目或合适的研究设施可用于这类基础知识。拟议研究计划的次要目标之一是建立一个实验设施来进行这些分析，并对分析方法和模型进行系统评估，以支持加拿大工业（例如，CANDU反应堆，AECL）。这一结果也将丰富文献，在许多不同的科学和工程领域具有潜在的应用。该计划将雇用研究人员并培训毕业生，为他们提供核电研究方面的先进实践经验，这一领域对加拿大经济至关重要。

This proposal is intended to carry out thermalhydraulics studies related to atomic energy power generation. The research will relate to the working fluid water at high temperature, which is close to its critical point (221.2 bar, 374.15 C). The fundamental knowledge generated from this research would be directly beneficial to Canadian power-generation and potentially useful to chemical, and oil-gas industries. Short-term applications of the research focus on providing support to the nuclear reactor industry for designing of new reactor types and improving the safety of existing reactors in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. The research utilizes mainly Refrigerant-134a, which is one of the environmentally safe refrigerants, as coolant to simulate the high-pressure steam-water flow. The use of refrigerants provides a safer testing environment (lower operating pressure 40.7 bar and temperature 101.11 C), simpler testing requirements, more flexibility, and lower cost than steam-water flow. Research topics cover flow boiling and pressure drop, particularly the impact of various separate effects on thermalhydraulics parameters in simple geometries and bundles. At this point, little related educational programs or suitable research facilities are available in Canada for this type of fundamental knowledge. One of the secondary objectives of the proposed research program is to construct an experimental facility to conduct these analyses, and to undertake a systematic evaluation of analytical methods and models, in support of the Canadian industries (e.g., CANDU reactors, AECL). The results will also enrich the literature, with potential application in many different areas of science and engineering. This proposed program will employ researchers and train graduates, providing them with advanced, hands-on experience in nuclear power research, an area that is extremely vital for the Canadian economy.