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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Experimental Study of Eutectic Molten Salts NaCl/KCl/ZnCl2 Heat Transfer Inside a Smooth Tube for High-Temperature Application

Abstract Eutectic salts NaCl-KCl-ZnCl2 and NaCl-KCl-MgCl2 are two of the chloride salt systems that are promising for being used as high-temperature heat transfer fluid (HTF) and thermal energy storage (TES) materials in a wide range of temperatures from 230 °C to 750 °C in concentrated solar thermal power systems. To conduct measurement of the heat transfer coefficient of the molten salt at high temperatures, a circulation system and instrumentation of flow and heat transfer was constructed. Experimental measurement of the convective heat transfer coefficients of NaCl-KCl-ZnCl2 (molar fraction: 13.8–41.9–44.3%) inside tubes has been accomplished to find the most suitable heat transfer correlations. Experience of salt processing and operation of the high-temperature heat transfer test system was obtained. Two correlations, Dittus-Boelter equation and Gnielinski’s correlation for Nusselt number against Reynolds number and Prandtl number, are evaluated using the test results, and the latter correlation is recommended due to its better agreement of prediction against tested data.

Energy & Fuels↗
DOE OSTI2025

Design, optimization, and validation of a triply periodic minimal surface based heat exchanger for extreme temperature applications

Heat exchanger (HX) innovation offers potential for significant improvements in energy efficiency for a host of applications including but not limited to aviation and power generation cycles. Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS) have received significant attention in recent years due to their incredibly high surface area density, which makes them very attractive from a heat transfer point of view. Recent efforts have largely focused on thermal-hydraulic characterization of the many available TPMS and the testing of small-scale HX prototypes. However, practical implementation remains largely unexplored, partially due to the extreme computational cost associated with accurately simulating these complex structures. In this work, we present the design, simulation, and optimization of a TPMS-HX for high temperature (900 °C) and pressure (25 MPa) applications. Detailed analysis of HX sub-sections is conducted to define the smallest repeatable section which may be used to characterize the thermal-hydraulic performance of the entire HX, enabling rapid design and iteration with significantly reduced computational cost. Compared to preliminary results for a water-to-water experiment, calibrated heat transfer and pressure drop predictions were within ±5 % and ±10 %, respectively. Optimization results show a 10x increase in volumetric power density over the initial design, which is verified against a parametric exhaustive search of the HX design space. Furthermore, it was found that reducing the unit cell hydraulic diameter cell plays the largest role in increasing heat transfer, increasing the surface area density and enabling a more compact and efficient HX.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

State-of-the-art and review of condensation heat transfer for small modular reactor passive safety: Experimental studies

Here this study focused on state-of-the-art and review of condensation heat transfer for small modular reactors (SMR). Nuclear reactors adopt passive containment cooling systems (PCCS) for accident mitigation, containment integrity, and primarily to maintain the last barrier for radioactive particle release to the environment during and beyond design-basis accidents. However, improving the effectiveness of the PCCS is more critical for the SMR than for commercial reactors to ensure higher safety margins and compactness. In the PCCS of SMR, due to its smaller size containment, the filmwise condensation (FWC) is dominant. Therefore, this study emphasized the FWC. Earlier condensation studies for the PCCS did not make SMR the primary focus, so a critical review for formulating the state-of-the-art was necessary. Part-1 of this study covered the review of physics phenomena, previous experimental studies with a brief overview of associated test facilities and empirical correlations. This study identified a research gap with the condensation test data scaling relations by using the information and findings of the previous PCCS studies and applied them to the SMR system.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spatially and temporally resolved plasma parameter estimations of laser heated MagLIF relevant gas pipes at NIF

The ability to control laser pre-heat is an integral part of the inertial confinement fusion concept known as Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion. This process is studied at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) where 4 of the 192 laser beams are propagated through a 1-cm long gas cell where they deposit >20 kJ of energy into the gaseous fuel via inverse bremsstrahlung absorption. This process ionizes the gas, producing a plasma that follows behind the laser front and expands over the radius of the cell. Emission from this plasma, as viewed by a gated x-ray detector, can be used to build spatially and temporally resolved estimations of the pre-heat plasma's density and temperature profiles. This can then be used to estimate the plasma pressure, internal energy, and radiation losses. Estimations show the evolution of the plasma in magnetized and unmagnetized gas cells filled with ambient temperature neopentane (C5H12) +1% Ar, as well as unmagnetized cryogenically cooled (32 K) deuterium +1% Ne filled targets. This analysis shows the effects of initial gas-fill density, composition, and axial magnetization on the time-dependent plasma parameters. Previously, these parameters at the NIF had not been experimentally characterized, and these estimations provided a potential new means of testing radiation magneto-hydrodynamic predictive capability models. Results in unmagnetized targets have strong agreement with simulations. However, in targets with a 19 T applied axial magnetic field, this method yields electron temperatures up to 100% hotter than those predicted by HYDRA codes.

Bremsstrahlung↗
DOE OSTI2025

Resolving discrepancies in bang-time predictions for indirect-drive ICF experiments on the NIF: Insights from the Build-A-Hohlraum campaign

This study investigated discrepancies between measured and simulated x-ray drive in Indirect-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ID-ICF) hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility. Despite advances in radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, a consistent “drive deficit” remains. Experimentally measured ID-ICF capsule bang-times are systematically 400–700 ps later than simulations predict. The Build-A-Hohlraum (BAH) campaign explored potential causes for this discrepancy by systematically varying hohlraum features, including laser entrance hole (LEH) windows, capsules, and gas fills. Overall, the agreement between simulated and experimental x-ray drive was found to be largely unaffected by these changes. The data allow us to exclude some hypotheses put forward to potentially explain the discrepancy. Errors in the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) atomic modeling, errors in the modeling of LEH closure, and errors due to a lack of plasma species mix physics in simulations are shown to be inconsistent with our measurements. Instead, the data support the hypothesis that errors in NLTE emission modeling are a significant contributor to the discrepancy. X-ray emission in the 2–4 keV range is found to be approximately 30% lower than in simulations. This is accompanied by higher than predicted electron temperatures in the gold bubble region, pointing to errors in non-LTE modeling. Introducing an opacity multiplier of 0.87 on energy groups above 1.8 keV improves agreement with experimental data, reducing the bang-time discrepancy from 300 to 100 ps. These results underscore the need for refined NLTE opacity models to enhance the predictive power of hohlraum simulations.

Band emission↗
DOE OSTI2020

Force Balance Model Assessment for Mechanistic Prediction of Sliding Bubble Velocity in Vertical Subcooled Boiling Flow

The bubble sliding after departing from nucleation site is frequently observed in flow boiling systems and, the crucial impact on wall heat transfer has been evidenced through many experiments. As a result, the heat transfer modeling associated with sliding bubble has become one of the subjects of great attention in CFD boiling heat transfer community. The modeling efforts are primarily aimed at improving the existing Heat Flux Partitioning (HFP) model via the implementation of sliding bubble-induced heat transfer. The performance of HFP model depends inherently on the fidelity of sub-models used to predict the fundamental bubble parameters (e.g., bubble departure/lift-off diameter). In the same context, the accurate prediction of sliding bubble parameters (e.g., sliding bubble growth, sliding bubble velocity) is essential to achieving the successful heat transfer modeling associated with sliding bubble. Of many sliding bubble parameters, this paper deals with the sliding bubble velocity. Specifically, the force balance model was assessed in view of the sliding bubble velocity prediction. The parametric effect of key sub-models (e.g., drag force, bubble growth models) used in the force balance equation was investigated. The experimental data from Maity (2000) and Yoo et al. (2016) were used for demonstrating the model predictive performance. It was found that the force balance model proposed in this study was able to predict well the bubble sliding velocity based on the accurate prediction of bubble growth during sliding. The predictive performance was proven with the experimental data measured under various subcooled boiling conditions of both water and refrigerant (NOVEC-7000) flowing upward in vertical channels.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Using SPHINX Accelerator to Measure Heat Transfer in Metal Foils [Slides]

Experiments on the SPHINX accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) looked at electron beam heating of metal foils used in Bremsstrahlung flash x-ray production. Titanium and tantalum foils were exposed to electron beam energies of up to 2MeV to determine surface heating. As part of the experiment, the x-ray dose profiles were characterized using a scintillating panel (EJ-230) placed both perpendicular and parallel to the photon beam. This was followed by direct electron beam imaging using a fast-gated ICCD camera and a fused silica Cherenkov witness plate. Once characterized, the foil was directly measured using a mid-wave (3-5 micron) infrared camera (MWIR) to determine the peak surface temperatures and spatially-resolved thermal profiles. Additionally, an IR pyrometer was used in a single wavelength mode (2.3 µm) to determine localized surface temperatures as well. Results are compared with calculations of surface temperatures obtained from e-beam energy depositions combined with the specific heats of the foils. This is the first attempt to directly measure the surface temperature profile on a short-pulse (10 nanoseconds) flash x-ray source using MWIR imaging. These data are directly relevant for Monte Carlo/Integrated Tiger Series electron/photon transport code results being used in the design of future Bremsstrahlung sources such as CREST.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Experimental Study of Underground Heat Storage via Hydraulic Fractures

In this study, we present a laboratory setup to test the energy flow in the form of underground heat storage using hydraulic fractures, a so-called Fracture Thermal Energy Storage (FTES) system. In the experiment, de-ionized water is circulated under high pressure through steel tubing automatically heated to a target temperature. The fluid adjusts to the tubing temperature during its flow before entering a production well drilled into a 250 mm edge length block of Zimbabwe Gabbro. The warm fluid then circulates through a previously created hydraulic fracture at mid-height of the block to a production well drilled at the block periphery. External fracture appearances are sealed using an epoxy resin and the production well by a cork of polydimethylsiloxane. In this cork, tubing to an open outlet is glued. We demonstrated through the results of a preliminary heating experiment that we can transfer nearly all of the heat from the circulating fluid to the block. An efficient charging of the thermal battery is achieved. This first-order demonstration is currently under further improvement and serves as a knowledge basis for the upscaling of mid- to large-scale field implementation of FTES systems.

Möri, Andreas↗
DOE OSTI2020

Thermally Anisotropic Composites for Heat Redirection and Thermal Management in Building Envelopes

In building envelope systems, thermal management is important from energy conservation and thermal comfort perspectives, and is typically done via insulation, thermal mass, solar control and shading, etc. Thermal anisotropy is commonly utilized in electronics for heat dissipation. This article investigates the feasibility of utilizing thermally anisotropic composites (TACs) to reduce unwanted heat gains and losses through the building envelope by redirecting the heat transfer to or from appropriate heat sinks and sources.Numerical simulations of building envelope components using COMSOL Multiphysics and whole building simulations using EnergyPlus (E+) were performed to estimate the energy savings potential of TACs used in external walls of residential buildings. Application of TACs was compared with baseline walls with cavity insulation as well as with and without exterior continuous insulation (CI). The COMSOL simulations indicated 75% or higher reductions in heat gains when using a TAC coupled with a heat sink compared to an exterior CI case. In terms of energy savings in a hot climate, E+ models estimated cooling energy savings of 19% with a "TAC + heat sink" compared to a baseline wall with only cavity insulation. Further, a small-scale test sample with a TAC-heat sink system was built and tested in a multi-transducer heat flow meter (HFM). The heat sink was a copper tube circulating cold water. The experiments verified the re-direction of heat to a sink and significant reduction in heat transfer through the test specimen. The experiments showed that the heat redirection only occurred in the presence of both thermal anisotropy and water circulation; if either element was missing, the system behaved like a traditional envelope component.

Biswas, Kaushik↗
DOE OSTI2022

Convective Heat Transfer Potential of Particles/Airflow Through Single Cell Thick Additively Manufactured Octet-Shaped Lattice Frame Material

Abstract Particle-to-Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) heat exchangers are one of the most critical components of the next-generation Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. There have been several efforts to enhance the overall heat exchanger performance which essentially comprises of thermal resistances offered by sCO2 channel, wall (separating sCO2 with particles) thickness, particle-wall contact resistance and particle-side effective heat transfer coefficient. This study is focused towards reducing the particle side thermal resistance by incorporating single unit cell thick reticulated Octet lattice frame structures on the falling particle side to enhance the effective thermal conductivity of the particle channel and to enhance convective heat transfer between the falling particles and the solid phase of the falling particle channel (endwalls and fibers). Steady-state experiments were conducted to measure the effective thermal conductivity of lattice frame material for two cases: a) when void space was occupied by air, b) when void space was occupied with particles. Further, convective heat transfer experiments have been conducted with both air (steady-state) and particles (quasi steady-state) as “working fluid” for panels sandwiching the Octet array. Three different lattice porosities ranging from 0.75 to 0.9 have been tested for a wide range of air flow rates and a fixed particle flow rate (highest potential).

Aider, Youssef↗
DOE OSTI2022

Analysis on the Preliminary Gap Conductance Test with Single Primary Heat Extraction and Removal Emulator

Microreactor is a type of nuclear reactor that is intended to produce thermal energy from the micro and integrated design. Among various microreactor roadmaps, microreactor with heat pipes is one of the promising designs that under active development. At Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Microreactor Program (MRP), a Single Primary Heat Extraction and Removal Emulator (SPHERE) was developed. The main purpose of SPHRE is to understand thermal performance of heat pipe in the conjunction of heat source without using nuclear material. The heat pipe used in the SPHERE has sodium as a working fluid, with Argon gas in the vapor region, thus this heat pipe is variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP). The volume of non-condensable gas changes with power and elapsed time, so the area covered by non-condensable gas changes. This gives an effect that passively controls the cooling capability of condenser section. This preliminary experiment was intended to perform a gap conductance experiment that reveals heat transfer characteristics of gas at the gap around the heat pipe. However, there are not many experimental data that deals with heat transfer of the gas at the gap around heat pipe. In this research, the preliminary experimental result regarding to the heat pipe performance with different composition of gas at the gap, level of power is presented. The experimental data will be used for the validation study of SOCKEYE as a future plan.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Results of the CHF-SERTTA In-Pile Transient Boiling Experiments at TREAT

To advance the current understanding of heat transfer between nuclear fuel rod cladding and the surrounding coolant under transient scenarios involving critical heat flux (CHF), the CHF-Static Environment Rodlet Transient Test Apparatus (CHFSERTTA), an in-pile experiment, was developed for and irradiated in the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility at Idaho National Laboratory. The CHF-SERTTA experiment consists of a hollow, borated stainless steel rod submerged in a static water pool. The rod, heated via the (n, a) reaction in boron-10, was designed for investigating in-pile transient heat transfer between the rod surface and the coolant, avoiding the complexity of including the heat transfer between the fuel, gas gap, and cladding in typical light-water reactor (LWR) fuel rods. The instrumentation package for CHF-SERTTA focused on capturing those data that best describe the heat transfer behaviour between the rod and coolant. This paper outlines the CHFSERTTA experiment design and presents the initial results of the experiment campaign.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thermal Analysis of the SIRIUS3 Nuclear Propulsion Fuel Calibration Experiment

NASA is considering Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) for long range extraterrestrial missions; these engines eject hot hydrogen gas heated by a nuclear reactor for rocket thrust. To economize the use of hydrogen to the greatest extent possible, the NTP engines will be expected to, in a very short time (i.e., on the order of a minute or less), go from warm$(\sim 300 K)$ zero power conditions to full operational power, with a coolant outlet temperature on the order of 2700–3000 K \cite{en15176181}. These conditions will introduce significant thermomechanical stresses on the NTP fuel. The objective of the SIRIUS series of experiments is to examine the performance of candidate NTP fuel materials when subjected to temperature ramp rates that are prototypical of NTP system startup and operation. The SIRIUS experiments are a series of experiments that will be irradiated in the TREAT reactor and are subjected to power ramps and cycles that are prototypical for NTP operation. The experiments will be accomplished by executing a series of shaped transients on the SIRIUS specimens while collecting in situ specimen temperature data. These tests will determine whether operational startup ramps and peak temperatures will result in detrimental fuel performance phenomena (i.e. fuel deformation, fragmentation and cracking) To this end, INL has been evaluating a number of SIRIUS experiments, and these evaluations include thermal analysis of the SIRIUS experiments. Thermal analysis were performed for the calibration irradiation of the SIRIUS-3 experiment, and the focus of this memo is to document the results from the calibration irradiation thermal analysis. The thermal analysis reveals that radiation heat emission of the outer fuel elements and conduction to different metal components such as the molybdenum element tubes remove significant quantities of heat from the fuel element specimen, and future experiment designs need to consider these heat transfer mechanics. This paper begins with a brief experiment overview with a discussion of the fuel sample and experiment configuration. The experiment and model description section is followed by a set of results with a brief discussion, and finally the memo concludes with suggestion for future work.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Heat transfer coefficients of moving particle beds from flow-dependent thermal conductivity and near-wall resistance

Accurate determination of heat transfer coefficients for flowing packed particle beds is essential to the design of particle heat exchangers and other thermal and thermochemical equipment. While such dense granular flows mostly fall into the well-known plug-flow regime, the discrete nature of granular materials alters the thermal transport processes in both the near-wall and bulk regions of flowing particle beds from their stationary counterparts. As a result, heat transfer correlations based on the stationary particle bed thermal conductivity could be inadequate for flowing particles in a heat exchanger. Most earlier works have achieved a reasonable agreement with experiments by treating granular heat transfer media as a plug-flow continuum with a near-wall thermal resistance in series. However, the thermal conductivity values of the continuum were often obtained from measurements on stationary beds owing to the difficulty of flowing bed measurements. In this work, it was found that the properties of a stationary bed are highly sensitive to the method of particle packing and there is a decrease in the particle bed thermal conductivity and increase in the near-wall thermal resistance, measured as an effective air gap thickness, on the onset of particle flow. These variations in thermal conductivity of stationary and flowing particle beds can lead to errors in heat transfer coefficient calculations. Therefore, the heat transfer coefficients for granular flows were calculated using experimentally determined flowing particle bed thermal conductivity and near-wall air gap for ceramic particles – CARBO CP 40/100 (mean diameter = 275 µm), HSP 40/70 (404 µm) and HSP 16/30 (956 µm); at velocities of 5–15 mm·s –1 ; and temperatures of 300–650 °C. The thermal conductivity and air gap values for CP 40/100 and HSP 40/70 were further used to calculate heat transfer coefficients across different particle bed temperatures and velocities for different parallel-plate heat exchanger dimensions. Furthermore, these calculations, which show good agreement with measured HTC values reported in literature, can be used as a guide for heat exchanger designs. Graphical abstract

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enhanced Pool Boiling of Low-Pressure Refrigerants on Round Tubes- An Experimental Evaluation

Pool boiling heat transfer is one of the most effective heat transfer methos and crucial for several energy conversion processes such as electronic cooling, steam generation, water purification and thermal management. Enhancing boiling heat transfer around the tubes enables higher heat flux, which can improve the efficiency and lead to compact heat exchangers. Delaying the onset of critical heat flux (CHF) allows for higher CHFs and protects equipment during anomalous transient conditions. Growing interest in process intensification and delayed CHF has motivated the current study. An experimental approach has been deployed to investigate a potential technique to enhance the pool boiling performance around small diameter tubes by open cell metal foams. The findings for nucleate pool boiling of Novec HFE 7000 on the externally enhanced and smooth tubes are reported. The enhanced tube comprised of compressed aluminum foam brazed around. All the samples were horizontally oriented, and the experiments were performed under ambient pressure conditions. The heat transfer measurements for the smooth tubes were compared with several existing correlations and established the baseline. The preliminary results showed that the aluminum foam effectively enhanced the heat transfer coefficient and delayed the onset of critical heat flux. In addition, the pool boiling process around the round tube sample was visualized from both side and front views to comprehend the heat transfer mechanisms underlying substantial enhancement observed during experiments.

Yang, Cheng-Min↗
DOE OSTI2026

Insights into mixing of non-isothermal multi-polymer melts for complex plastics recycling

Catalytic recycling or upcycling of plastics is often limited not by catalyst performance, but by transport, arising from highly viscous, non-Newtonian polymer melts. In this work, we develop a reactor-scale framework that integrates rheological measurements, constitutive modeling, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and experiments to quantify mixing, heat transfer, and dispersion in surrogate hydrocarbon melts representing mixed plastics systems. Temperature- and shear rate-dependent viscosity of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) is measured to create two surrogate polymers (PLD and PHD) that capture the dominant shear-thinning flow behavior while neglecting strong elastic effects, enabling tractable simulation of non-isothermal, polymer-melt mixing using a Carreau-Arrhenius generalized Newtonian framework. Three-dimensional CFD simulations are employed to evaluate impeller performance in PLD using mixing time, cavern volume, thermal uniformity, and interfacial area for regimes in which viscoelastic effects are not dominant. We show that magnetic stir bars commonly used in lab-scale studies produce large thermal gradients (~60 °C) and poor mixing, even under idealized power delivery and polymer flow conditions. In contrast, close-clearance anchor impellers achieve near-isothermal operation, reduce mixing times by up to 5×, and provide >90% active circulation volume. We further demonstrate that, at low pseudo-Deborah number (De*), motor power requirements can be predicted directly from shear rate-dependent rheology using the Carreau-Arrhenius framework, enabling rational selection of operating conditions. Extension to surrogate immiscible multi-polymer systems based on PLD and PHD shows that interfacial area is highly sensitive to operating conditions and impeller design, with coaxial anchor-turbine configurations enhancing dispersion by up to 4 × .

Close-clearance impellers↗