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Radial temperature profiles of plutonium dioxide powder in a cylindrical vessel were measured over a pressure range of 0.055 to 334.4 kPa with two different fill gases, helium and argon. The powder provides a very uniform self-heating medium for analysis. A thermal conductivity model was developed for heat conduction in the fine ceramic powder. Most literature models make limiting assumptions about powder characteristics that do not hold for this material. Despite the powder particles' complex geometry, the proposed model correctly reproduces the powder temperature profiles over the wide pressure range for both fill gases.

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A simple model is developed here to predict the pressure drop and discharge coefficient for incompressible flow through orifices with length-to-diameter ratio greater than zero (orifice tubes) over wide ranges of Reynolds number. The pressure drop for flow through orifice tubes is represented as two pressure drops in series; namely, a pressure drop for flow through a sharp-edged orifice in series with a pressure drop for developing flow in a straight length of tube. Both of these pressure drop terms are represented in the model using generally accepted correlations and experimental data for developing flows and sharp-edged orifice flow. We show agreement between this simple model and our numerical analysis of laminar orifice flow with length-to-diameter ratio up to 15 and for Reynolds number up to 150. Agreement is also shown between the series pressure drop representation and experimental data over wider ranges of Reynolds number. Not only is the present work useful as a design correlation for equipment relying on flow through orifice tubes but it helps to explain some of the difficulties that previous authors have encountered when comparing experimental observation and available theories.

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