| Core bypass flow is considered one of the largest contributors to uncertainty in fuel temperature within the Modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (MHTGR). It refers to the coolant that navigates through the interstitial regions between the graphite fuel blocks instead of traveling through the designated coolant channels. These flows are of concern because they reduce the desired flow rates in the coolant channels, and thereby have significant influence on the maximum fuel element and coolant exit temperatures. Thus, accurate prediction of the bypass flow is important because it directly impacts core temperature, influencing the life and efficiency of the reactor. An experiment was conducted at Idaho National Laboratory to quantify the flow in the coolant channels in relation to the interstitial gaps between fuel blocks in a representative MHTGR core. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the flow fields within a simplified model, which comprised of a stacked junction of six partial fuel blocks with nine coolant tubes, separated by a 6mm gap width. The model had three sections: The upper plenum, upper block, and lower block. Model components were fabricated from clear, fused quartz where optical access was needed for the PIV measurements. Measurements were taken in three streamwise locations: in the upper plenum and in the midsection of the large and small fuel blocks. A laser light sheet was oriented parallel to the flow, while velocity fields were measured at millimeter intervals across the width of the model, totaling 3,276 PIV measurement locations. Inlet conditions were varied to incorporate laminar, transition, and turbulent flows in the coolant channels—all which produced laminar flow in the gap and non-uniform, turbulent flow in the upper plenum. The images were analyzed to create vector maps, and the data was exported for processing and compilation. The bypass flow was estimated by calculating the flow rates through the coolant channels and gap, then forming a ratio of the results. It was found that the gap consumed about 6.9-15.8% of the total flow for a channel Reynolds number between 1,700 and 4,600, where the flow distribution amid the coolant channels varied less than 4.6%. |
