A METHOD FOR CALCULATING TEMPERATURES IN WATER COOLED NUCLEAR REACTORS

Abstract

Reliable methods are presented for calculating bulk-system temperatures and maximum fuel-element surface temperatures in water-cooled nuclear reactors where no phase changes of the coolant are permitted. Cumbersome heat-transfer coefficients, which are generally expressed in dimensionless moduli, have been converted into the product of a temperature-dependent parameter (base-factor) and an engineering parameter 9k-factor) based on the physical dimensions of the system. The resulting equation is integrated directly into the equation for calculating fuel-element surface temperatures. Graphs are presented which permit a rapid determination of the effect of changes in wetbulb temperatures, flow rates, or heat loads on the system temperatures. From the graphs, many different types of heat-transfer problems can be solved directly instead of by long laborious alternative methods. Derivations of the pertinent equations are given in the appendices. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1961
Accession Number
AD0266020

Entities

People

  • J.b. Mcguffin

Organizations

  • General Dynamics

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coefficients
  • Equations
  • Flow Rate
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heat Transfer Coefficients
  • Nuclear Reactors
  • Surface Temperature

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.