• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2017

Hydrogen peroxide is being considered as a monopropellant in micropropulsion systems for the next generation of miniaturized satellites ('nanosats') due to its high energy density, modest specific impulse and green characteristics. Efforts at the University of Vermont have focused on the development of a MEMS-based microthruster that uses a novel slug flow monopropellant injection scheme to generate thrust and impulse-bits commensurate with the intended micropropulsion application. The present study is a computational effort to investigate the initial decomposition of the monopropellant as it enters the catalytic chamber, and to compare the impact of the monopropellant injection scheme on decomposition performance. Two-dimensional numerical studies of the monopropellant in microchannel geometries have been developed and used to characterize the performance of the monopropellant before vaporization occurs. The results of these studies show that monopropellant in the lamellar flow regime, which lacks a non-diffusive mixing mechanism, does not decompose at a rate that is suitable for the microthruster dimensions. In contrast, monopropellant in the slug flow regime decomposes 57% faster than lamellar flow for a given length, indicating that the monopropellant injection scheme has potential benefits for the performance of the microthruster.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.847-858
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• 2016

An overview is given on the work of the Laboratory of Nuclear Energy Systems at ETH, Zurich (ETHZ) and of the Laboratory of Thermal Hydraulics at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland on tight-lattice bundles. Two-phase flow in subchannels of a tight triangular lattice was studied experimentally and by computational fluid dynamics simulations. Two adiabatic facilities were used: (1) a vertical channel modeling a pair of neighboring sub-channels; and (2) an arrangement of four subchannels with one subchannel in the center. The first geometry was equipped with two electrical film sensors placed on opposing rod surfaces forming the subchannel gap. They recorded 2D liquid film thickness distributions on a domain of $16{\times}64$ measuring points each, with a time resolution of 10 kHz. In the bubbly and slug flow regime, information on the bubble size, shape, and velocity and the residual liquid film thickness underneath the bubbles were obtained. The second channel was investigated using cold neutron tomography, which allowed the measurement of average liquid film profiles showing the effect of spacer grids with vanes. The results were reproduced by large eddy simulation + volume of fluid. In the outlook, a novel nonadiabatic subchannel experiment is introduced that can be driven to steady-state dryout. A refrigerant is heated by a heavy water circuit, which allows the application of cold neutron tomography.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.10 no.4 s.33
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• pp.1-5
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• 2006

With the rapid increase in gas consumption, the role of pipelines as a transportation means of natural gas is increasing. In general, when natural gas is being transported in pipelines, some liquid mainly from formation of condensate is introduced and this phenomenon makes operational problems more complex in the gas industry. Thus, an appropriate method is necessary for predicting the effect of presence of gas condensate on operational efficiency. In this study, a statistical model was developed using an integrated single- and two-phase flows concept. Using this model, the effects of the incipient point of gas condensate and its quantity on outlet pressure were analyzed. Also, the effect of variations of flow regimes in two-phase region on outlet pressure after the incipient point was analyzed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.669-677
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• 2015

A mechanistic model for void fraction prediction with improved interfacial friction factor in nearly horizontal tubes has been proposed in connection with the development of a condensation model package for the passive auxiliary feedwater system of the Korean Advanced Power Reactor Plus. The model is based on two-phase momentum balance equations to cover various types of fluids, flow conditions, and inclination angles of the flow channel in a separated flow. The void fraction is calculated without any discontinuity at flow regime transitions by considering continuous changes of the interfacial geometric characteristics and interfacial friction factors across three typical separated flows, namely stratified-smooth, stratified-wavy, and annular flows. An evaluation of the proposed model against available experimental data covering various types of fluids and flow regimes showed a satisfactory agreement.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.599-606
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• 1988

Structures of interfacial waves in nearly-horizontal countercurrent stratified air-water flow have been measured by means of a needle contact method. Based upon a statistical analysis for the liquid film distribution, statistical properties of the waves such as mean film thickness, mean wave amplitude and rms value of the wave fluctuation have been calculated. The results show that the film distribution can be described by a Gaussian probability density function for the three-dimensional wave regime. It is also indicated that the mean film thick ness and the rms value of the wave fluctuation increase as gas and liquid flow rates are increased in countercurrent two-phase flow. The dimensionless intensity of the wave fluctuation may be regarded as a function of the Froude number and the dimensionless mean film thickness.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 1995

In influence of the vapor phase turbulent stress (i.e., the too-phase Reynolds stress) to the characteristics of two-phase system in a horizontal pipe has been theoretically investigated. The average two-fluid model has been constituted with closure relations for stratified flow in a horizontal pipe. A vapor phase turbulent stress model for the regular interface geometry has been included. It is found that the second order waves propagate in opposite direction with almost the same speed in the moving frame of reference of the liquid phase velocity. Using the well-posedness limit of the two-phase system, the dispersed-stratified How regime boundary has been modeled. Two-phase Froude number has been found to be a convenient parameter in quantifying the onset of slugging as a function of the global void fraction. The influence of the taper phase turbulent stress was found to stabilize the flow stratification.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.649-658
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• 1996

Small-amplitude harmonic oscillations of multi-cylinders are considered both experimentally and theoretically. For the theoretical model, the flow regime is separated into inner and outer regions. In the inner region, the flow is governed by the generalized Stokes boundary layer equation. In the outer region, the full Navier-Stokes equation for the steady streaming flow is solved numerically by using ADI scheme and FVM coupled with the boundary integral method. Flow visualization experiments are conducted by using the Laser Sheet Image Technique. The case of two circular cylinders and square cylinders with variable distances are chosen as a typical example. Although experimental results are based on the flow in the finite domain, both experimental and numerical results agree well qualitatively. As the separation of cylinders is increased, a numerical result shows the asymptotic convergence to a single cylinder case.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.732-742
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• 1998

Prediction method for heat transfer coefficients in a horizontal smooth tube with forced convection condensation is proposed. In this paper, the analogy between momentum and heat transfer was applied to an annular flow regime and the logarithmic velocity distribution is applied to describe the velocity profile within the liquid film. Prediction results are compared with those of experimental ones. The test refrigerants are R113, R22, R134a, R407C(R33/R125/R134a, 23/25/52 wt%), R410A(R32/R125, 50/50 wt%) and R134a＋R123(R134a/R123, 85.5/14.5 wt%) which are used under operating conditions in a condenser of air-conditioner. The proposed prediction method shows good agreement with experimental data within$\pm 30%$ for pure refrigerants. For the mixture refrigerants including the ternary mixture refrigerant R407C, condensation heat transfer from this study are higher than those from experiments. By correcting the constant in two-phase frictional multiplier, the predicated heat transfer coefficients become similar to the experimental results.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2016

The slender structures such as high rise building or marine riser are highly susceptible to dynamic force exerted by fluid-structure interactions among which vortex-induced vibration(VIV) is the main cause of dynamic unstability of the structural system. If VIV occurs in natural frequency regime of the structure, fatigue failure likely happens by so-called lock-in phenomenon. This study presents the numerical analysis of dynamic behavior of both structure and fluid in the lock-in regimes and investigates the subjacent phenomena to hold the resonance frequency in spite of the change of flow condition. Unsteady and laminar flow was considered for a two-dimensional circular cylinder which was assumed to move freely in 1 degree of freedom in the direction orthogonal to the uniform inflow. Fluid-structure interaction was implemented by solving both unsteady flow and dynamic motion of the structure sequentially in each time step where the fluid domain was remeshed considering the movement of the body. The results show reasonable agreements with previous studies and reveal characteristic features of the lock-in phenomena. Not only the lift force but also drag force are drastically increasing during the lock-in regime, the vertical displacement of the cylinder reaches up to 20% of the diameter of the cylinder. The correlation analysis between lift and vertical displacement clearly show the dramatic change of the phase difference from in-phase to out-of-phase when the cylinder experiences lock-in. From the results, it can be postulated that the change of phase difference and flow condition is responsible for the resonating behavior of the structure during lock-in.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.1902-1912
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• 2024

This paper presents results from system-level modeling of a water-based reactor cavity cooling system using RELAP5-3D. The computational model is benchmarked with experimental data from a half-scale RCCS test facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The model prediction is first compared with a two-phase oscillatory baseline experimental case where mixed accuracy is obtained. The model shows reasonable prediction of mass flow rate, pressure, and temperature but significant overprediction of void fraction. The model prediction is then compared with a fault case where the inlet of the risers is gradually reduced using a throttling valve. As the valve is closed, the model is able to predict some major flow phenomena observed in the experiment such as the dampening of oscillations, the reintroduction of oscillations, as well as boiling, flashing, and geysering in the risers. However, the timeline of these events are not well captured by the model. The model is also used to investigate the evolution of flow regime in the chimney. This work highlights that the semi-empirical constitutive relations used in RELAP-3D could have a strong influence on the accuracy of the model in two-phase oscillatory flows.