Comparison of Measurements and Computations of Isothermal Flow Velocity inside HyperVapotrons
Author(s)
Sergis, A
Resvanis, K
Hardalupas, Y
Barrett, T
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
HyperVapotrons are two-phase water-cooled heat exchangers able to receive high heat fluxes (HHF) by employing a cyclic phenomenon called the "Vapotron Effect". HyperVapotrons have been used routinely in HHF nuclear fusion applications. A detailed experimental investigation on the effect giving rise to the ability to sustain steady state heat fluxes in excess of 10MW/m2 has not yet been possible and hence the phenomenon is not yet well understood. The coolant flow structures that promote the effect have been a major point of interest, and many investigations based on Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations have been performed in the past. The understanding of the physics of the coolant flow inside the device may hold the key to further optimisation of engineering designs. However, past computational investigations have not been experimentally evaluated. Isothermal flow velocity distribution measurements of the fluid flow in HyperVapotron optical models with high spatial resolution are performed in this paper. The same measurements are subsequently calculated via commercial CFD software. The isothermal CFD calculation is compared to the experimental velocity measurements to deduce the accuracy of the CFD investigations carried out. This unique comparison between computational and experimental results in HyperVapotrons will direct future efforts in analysing similar devices.
Date Issued
2015-04-25
Date Acceptance
2015-04-08
Citation
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2015, 96-97, pp.353-356
ISSN
1873-7196
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
353
End Page
356
Journal / Book Title
Fusion Engineering and Design
Volume
96-97
Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Source
28th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT)
Subjects
HyperVapotron
Particle image velocimetry
CFD
uRANS
RANS
High heat flux
Notes
In press
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2014-09-28
Finish Date
2014-10-03
Coverage Spatial
San Sebastián, Spain