Natural circulation loop (NCL) is simple and reliable due to the absence of moving components and is preferred in applications where safety is of foremost concern, such as nuclear power plants and high-pressure thermal power plants. In the present study, optimum operating conditions based on the maximum heat transfer rate in NCLs have been obtained for subcritical as well as supercritical fluids. In recent years, there is a growing interest in the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) as loop fluid in NCLs for a variety of heat transfer applications due to its excellent thermophysical environmentally benign properties. In the present study, three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of a CO2-based NCL with isothermal source and sink has been carried out. Results show that the heat transfer rate is much higher in the case of supercritical phase (if operated near pseudocritical region) than the subcritical phase. In the subcritical option, higher heat transfer rate is obtained in the case of liquid operated near saturation condition. Correlations for optimum operating condition are obtained for a supercritical CO2-based NCL in terms of reduced temperature and reduced pressure so that they can be employed for a wide variety of fluids operating in supercritical region. Correlations are also validated with different loop fluids. These results are expected to help design superior optimal NCLs for critical applications.
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November 2016
This article was originally published in
Journal of Heat Transfer
Research-Article
Optimum Operating Conditions for Subcritical/Supercritical Fluid-Based Natural Circulation Loops
Ajay Kumar Yadav,
Ajay Kumar Yadav
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology,
Karnataka, Surathkal,
Mangalore 575025, Karnataka, India
e-mail: ajaykyadav@nitk.edu.in
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology,
Karnataka, Surathkal,
Mangalore 575025, Karnataka, India
e-mail: ajaykyadav@nitk.edu.in
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Souvik Bhattacharyya,
Souvik Bhattacharyya
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: souvik.iit@gmail.com
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: souvik.iit@gmail.com
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M. Ram Gopal
M. Ram Gopal
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: ramg@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: ramg@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in
Search for other works by this author on:
Ajay Kumar Yadav
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology,
Karnataka, Surathkal,
Mangalore 575025, Karnataka, India
e-mail: ajaykyadav@nitk.edu.in
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology,
Karnataka, Surathkal,
Mangalore 575025, Karnataka, India
e-mail: ajaykyadav@nitk.edu.in
Souvik Bhattacharyya
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: souvik.iit@gmail.com
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: souvik.iit@gmail.com
M. Ram Gopal
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: ramg@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur,
Kharagpur 721302, India
e-mail: ramg@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER. Manuscript received August 2, 2014; final manuscript received September 18, 2015; published online June 14, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Ali Khounsary.
J. Heat Transfer. Nov 2016, 138(11): 112501 (9 pages)
Published Online: June 14, 2016
Article history
Received:
August 2, 2014
Revised:
September 18, 2015
Citation
Kumar Yadav, A., Bhattacharyya, S., and Ram Gopal, M. (June 14, 2016). "Optimum Operating Conditions for Subcritical/Supercritical Fluid-Based Natural Circulation Loops." ASME. J. Heat Transfer. November 2016; 138(11): 112501. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4031921
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