Nanofluid Applied Thermo-hydrodynamic Performance Analysis of Square Array Subchannel Under PWR Condition

Introduction Efficient engineered design of heat transfer and fluid flow with enhanced heating or cooling requires two pivotal aspects that must be taken into consideration for extracting thermal energy from nuclear fission reactions in order to save energy, reduce process time, raise thermal rating and increase the operating life of a reactor pressure vessel. Hence, one of the major challenges in designing a new nuclear power plant is the quantification of the optimal flow of coolant and distribution of pressure drop across the reactor core. While higher coolant flow rates will lead to better heat transfer and higher Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) limits, it will also result in higher pressure drop across the core, therefore additional demand of pumping powers as well as larger dynamic loads on the core components. Thus, thermal hydraulic core analysis seeks to find proper working conditions with enhanced heat transfer and reduced pressure drop that will assure both safe and economical operation of nuclear plants.