Natural circulation flow distribution within a multi-branch manifold

Nicolas R. Quintanar, Thien Nguyen, Rodolfo Vaghetto, Yassin A. Hassan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Natural circulation systems are extensively used in different applications but they need to be fully characterized to understand their behavior under different boundary conditions. CFD tools provide means to analyze these systems, however, they need additional experimental data to be validated. Experimental measurements of the flow distribution within a multiple-branch manifold under natural circulation have been conducted using PIV. Measurements have demonstrated that the flow within the risers behave similarly, differing between 6.68% and 12.63% in speed and vertical velocity, and between 8.7% and 17.5% for vertical turbulence strength at selected heights. A back-flow region has been observed at the bottom of the main channel, with an increasing cross sectional area moving far from the manifold inlet, while stream-wise flow occupies the top section of the main channel. The experimental activity has also produced a complete experimental data set with first and second order statistics of the flow that can be used for CFD code validation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-15
Number of pages15
JournalInternational Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
Volume135
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work is supported by the US Department of Energy Nuclear Engineering University Program (NEUP), under project DE-NE0008552 , in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Argonne National Laboratory.

FundersFunder number
US Department of EnergyDE-NE0008552
Argonne National Laboratory
University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Keywords

    • First- and second-order statistics
    • Manifold
    • Natural circulation
    • PIV
    • Parallel channels

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