Experimental analysis of heat transfer through multiple reflecting bodies in a reactor-based cooling vault

ABSTRACT

In a nuclear reactor power plant, massive amount of heat generated in the reactor core causes the Reactor vault (RV) temperature to rise, which should be maintained at a permissible temperature range of 65°C–80°C. In order to address this issue we propose to incorporate thermal insulation, which consists of thin stainless steel (SS) sheets of 0.1 mm-thick stacked with uniform gap between them, introduced between the core and RV. The SS sheets (emissivity = 0.05) are of highly polished, reflective type (mirror finish conforming to No. 8 as per ASTM A480/480M), which are made in the form of panels of suitable size and shape covering the entire outer contour. These types of insulations work on the principle of thermal radiation shielding Heat radiations from the reactor core falling on these reflective plates are reflected back thereby restricting the heat flux into the RV concrete. In order to estimate the effectiveness, 10 such plates are arranged over a length of 150 mm inside a casing made of an insulating material. A plate heater attached at the one end produces the desired heat transfer to analyse the thermal behaviour of the reflective plates. Thermocouples are attached to each plate to understand the temperature distribution in the system. Solidworks simulation and numerical calculations will be carried out.

KEYWORDS:

• Emissivity
• stainless steel
• modelling
• thermal barrier
• nitrogen gas

Acknowledgment

The experimentation was done in Sathyabama University. I am very much thankful to management for their kind support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.