Stability Behavior of a Natural Circulation Loop with End Heat Exchangers

Abstract

The present investigation describes the stability behavior of NCL with end heat exchangers. The one-dimensional transient conservation equations of the loop fluid and the two fluid streams of cold end and hot end heat exchangers are solved simultaneously using the finite element program. For the stability analysis the loop response is found for an imposed finite perturbation to the loop circulation rate. Though the stability may depend on the number of parameters, variation of two nondimensional parameters, namely Ch* and GrL, is studied. Selecting the specific combinations of the above two parameters three different cases of stability, namely, stable, neutrally stable, and unstable, are demonstrated. The stability behavior is scanned over a wide range of Ch* and GrL values and the stability envelope is also constructed.