University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Liquid metal flow in a sharp elbow in a uniform transverse magnetic field

Moon, Tessie Jo

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Description

Title
Liquid metal flow in a sharp elbow in a uniform transverse magnetic field
Author(s)
Moon, Tessie Jo
Issue Date
1989
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Walker, John S.
Department of Study
  • Applied Mechanics
  • Engineering, Mechanical
  • Engineering, Nuclear
Discipline
  • Applied Mechanics
  • Engineering, Mechanical
  • Engineering, Nuclear
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Applied Mechanics
  • Engineering, Mechanical
  • Engineering, Nuclear
Language
eng
Abstract
  • In the self-cooling blankets of the Tokamak fusion reactor, a liquid metal, namely liquid lithium, is pumped through a system of ducts to transfer heat and capture neutrons. One of the blanket designs proposed in Argonne National Laboratory's Blanket Comparison and Selection Study uses a combination of poloidal and toroidal ducts in order to maximize heat transfer while minimizing net pressure drop. In the design, the poloidal and toroidal ducts meet at sharp, abrupt corners. They were modelled as two identical, straight, semi-infinite, thin-walled, rectangular ducts with 45$\sp\circ$ miters and joined at a 90$\sp\circ$ angle in the plane of a strong, uniform magnetic field.
  • While in the toroidal containment vessel (i.e. the blanket), the liquid lithium is subjected to a large electromagnetic body force due to the presence of a strong magnetic field. This body force so dominates the flow as to make the inertial and viscous forces negligible everywhere, except in thin boundary or interior layers.
  • "The duct was ""separated"" into three distinct, successive regions in the axial direction. Due to their geometrical simplicity, the upstream and downstream regions had analytical solutions which were expressed in terms of eigenfunction expansions. Meanwhile, a successive over-relaxation finite difference scheme was used in the middle region which required a full numerical solution due to its geometrical complexity. The two solution types (numerical and analytical) were matched using a combined Galerkin-conservation integral method."
  • Results are presented for the geometry corresponding to the Tokamak configuration and values of the wall conductance ratio, c, in the range 0.01 to 1. The pressure and electric potential functions in the top and bottom walls are presented in each of the three regions. The additional pressure drop associated with the presence of the elbow is also given.
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/22430
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1989 Moon, Tessie Jo

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