Exploring the Use of Alumina Nanofluid as Emergency Coolant for Nuclear Fuel Bundle

Abstract

Nanofluids are suspensions of nanosized particles in any base fluid that show significant enhancement of their heat transfer properties at modest nanoparticle concentrations. Due to enhanced thermal properties at low nanoparticle concentration, it is a potential candidate for utilization in nuclear heat transfer applications. In the last decade, there have been few studies which indicate possible advantages of using nanofluids as a coolant in nuclear reactors during normal as well as accidental conditions. In continuation with these studies, the utilization of nanofluids as a viable candidate for emergency core cooling in nuclear reactors is explored in this paper by carrying out experiments in a scaled facility. The experiments carried out mainly focus on quenching behavior of a simulated nuclear fuel rod bundle by using 1% Alumina nanofluid as a coolant in emergency core cooling system (ECCS). In addition, its performance is compared with water. In the experiments, nuclear decay heat (from 1.5% to 2.6% reactor full power) is simulated through electrical heating. The present experiments show that, from heat transfer point of view, alumina nanofluids have a definite advantage over water as coolant for ECCS. Additionally, to assess the suitability of using nanofluids in reactors, their stability was investigated in radiation field. Our tests showed good stability even after very high dose of radiation, indicating the feasibility of their possible use in nuclear reactor heat transfer systems.

Numerical Investigation on the Thermal Performance of Nanofluid-Based Cooling System for Synchronous Generators

“…However, it cannot meet the increasing heat dissipation demand of onboard BLSG with high density because the limitation of heat dissipation capacity of lubricating oil. The heat transfer capacity of nanofluid is far more than of its base fluid [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Thus, a nanofluid-based cooling system (NBCS) for the BLSG, which has high thermal dissipation demand, is proposed in this paper.…”

“…A numerically study conducted by Vajjha et al [ 20 ] evaluated the superiority of heat transfer performance using Al 2 O 3 and CuO nanofluids in the flat tubes of a radiator. Chinchole et al [ 21 ] used Alumina nanofluid as emergency coolant for unclear fuel bundle because the thermal performance can be significantly enhanced. Ho et al [ 22 ] numerically investigated the transient cooling characteristic of Al 2 O 3 –water nanofluid flow in the microchannel subjected to sudden pulsed heat flux.…”

“…As the heat cooling ability of conventional liquid cooling is limited by the heat transfer capacity of the cooling medium, such as oil and water, the application of nanofluid for electrical rotating machine cooling mission will have a big advantage relative to the base fluid, which can meet the increasing heat dissipation requirement of aircraft generators with high power density. The most studied nanoparticles are metal [ 21 , 23 ] and metal oxide nanoparticles [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 24 , 25 ]. Compared with the metal nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles have a better nonconductivity, which means that the application of metal oxide nanoparticles into the base fluid has less influence on the electrical conversion process in BLSG.…”

A Review of Nanofluids as Coolants for Thermal Management Systems in Fuel Cell Vehicles

“…This is illustrated in Figure 2. In the nuclear reactor field, nanofluids as coolants could increase the cooling capacity and maintain safe operation of nuclear reactor cooling systems [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Nanofluids also can be used to improve oil recovery efficiency due to their excellent heat transfer performance [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51].…”

Effects of different thermal modes of obstacles on the natural convective Al2O3-water nanofluidic transport inside a triangular cavity

“…Alumina nanoparticles are considered as functional ingredients because it has substantial applications in device cooling, solar receiver, nuclear reactor, biomedical applications, etc. 61,62 Various thermal configurations of the obstacles, namely, cold, adiabatic, and heated are introduced to disclose the variations. The leading flow equations are made dimensionless and cracked using Galerkin finite element scheme.…”