Experimental Validation of Flow Uniformity Improvement by a Perforated Plate in the Heat Exchanger of SFR Steam Generator

Abstract

The steam generator in a nuclear power plant is a type of heat exchanger in which heat transfer occurs from the hot fluid in multiple channels to the cold fluid. Therefore, a uniform flow over multiple channels is necessary to improve heat exchanger efficiency. The study aims at experimentally investigating the improvement of flow uniformity by the perforated plate in the heat exchanger used for a sodium-cooled fast reactor stream generator. A 1/4-scale experimental model for one heat exchanger unit with 33 × 66 channels was manufactured. The working fluid was water. A perforated plate was systematically designed using numerical simulations to improve the flow uniformity over the 33 × 66 channels. As a result, the flow uniformity greatly improved at a slight cost of pressure drop. To validate the numerical results, planar particle image velocimetry measurements were performed on the selected planes in the inlet and outlet headers. The experimental velocity profiles near the exits of the channels were compared with numerical simulation data. The experimental profiles agreed with the numerical data well. Both the numerical simulation and the experimental results showed a slight increase in pressure drop, despite significant improvement in the flow uniformity.