Model of a Nuclear Thermal Test Pipe Using Athena

Abstract

Nuclear thermal propulsion offers significant improvements in rocket engine specific impulse over rockets employing chemical propulsion. The computer code ATHENA (Advanced Thermal Hydraulic Energy Network Analyzer) was used in a parametric analysis of fuelpipe. The fuelpipe is an annular particle bed fuel element of the reactor with radially inward flow of hydrogen through it. The outlet temperature of the hydrogen is parametrically related to key effects, including the effect of reactor power at two different pressure drops, the effect of the power coupling factor of the Annular Core Research Reactor, and the effect of hydrogen flow. Results show that the outlet temperature is linearly related to the reactor power and nonlinearly to the change in pressure drop. The linear relationship at higher temperatures is probably not valid due to dissociation of hydrogen. Once thermal properties of hydrogen become available, the ATHENA model for this study could easily be modified to test this conjecture.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA248111

Entities

People

  • Mark J. Dibben

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Cross Flow
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Flow Rate
  • Heat Capacity
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Mass Flow
  • Materials
  • Nuclear Propulsion
  • Nuclear Reactors
  • Numbers
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Rocket Engines
  • Thermal Conductivity
  • Thermal Propulsion Systems

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.