Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Heng Ban

Committee

Heng Ban

Committee

Robert Spall

Committee

Leijun Li

Abstract

To continue improving nuclear energy, new materials must be tested in testing reactors such as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory. A new test cap section allowed coolant to contact specimens tested in the ATR. A parallel channel test cap section should reduce the pressure drop across this section compared to a single channel. A fluid experiment conducted by Idaho State University showed the pressure drop was actually greater. A Computation Fluid Dynamics simulation using STAR-CCM+ was conducted of the fluid experiment to explain the abnormal pressure drop. The simulation provided evidence of ow through the test section required for a corrosion test and supported the results of the fluid experiment. Some pressure drop was caused by nozzle-like design and sudden expansion and contraction. Chaotic mixing produced some pressure drop. Flow disturbance related to flow rate caused a pressure drop at high flow rates when the fluid separated into each channel. The anomalous pressure drop was caused by the design of the test cap section.

Checksum

0adab9da50e7d668a9abd8441e3655fa

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on December 21, 2012.

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .