Hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell system with reactant-supersaturated electrolyte feed Final report, 21 Nov. 1966 - 20 May 1967
Conceptual design analysis of hydrogen oxygen fuel cell system with reactant supersaturated electrolyte feed
Zaromb, S.↗
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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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Three-dimensional analysis of the Pratt and Whitney alternate design SSME fuel turbine
The three dimensional viscous time-mean flow in the Pratt and Whitney alternate design space shuttle main engine fuel turbine is simulated using the average passage Navier-Stokes equations. The migration of secondary flows generated by upstream blade rows and their effect on the performance of downstream blade rows is studied. The present simulation confirms that the flow in this two stage turbine is highly three dimensional and dominated by the tip leakage flow. The tip leakage vortex generated by the first blade persists through the second blade and adversely affects its performance. The greatest mixing of the inlet total temperature distortion occurs in the second vane and is due to the large leakage vortex generated by the upstream rotor. It is assumed that the predominant spanwise mixing mechanism in this low aspect ratio turbine is the radial transport due to the deterministically unsteady vortical flow generated by upstream blade rows. A by-product of the analysis is accurate pressure and heat loads for all blade rows under the influence of neighboring blade rows. These aero loads are useful for advanced structural analysis of the vanes and blades.
Kirtley, K. R.↗
Pressurized-Water Reactor Core Design Demonstration with Genetic Algorithm Based Multi-Objective Plant Fuel Reload Optimization Platform
LWRS M3 milestone report due September 15, 2023. This report summarizes development and demonstration activities of PRLO optimization platform built in Risk Analysis and Virtual ENviroment (RAVEN), specifically: (1) Improvement of multi-objective non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) to handle large size of objectives and constraints, (2) Demonstration of pressurized water reactor core design with NSGA-II multi-objective optimization platform, and (3) Single-objective optimized core design including system analysis and fuel performance feedback.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Analysis and Design for Irradiation of High Power TRISO Fuel Compact Specimens in HFIR
Tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel is being proposed for use in several high-temperature advanced reactor concepts because of its structural integrity under high operating temperatures and burnup. One of these advanced reactor concepts is the Kairos Power fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (KP- FHR) under development by Kairos Power, LLC. Previous TRISO irradiation experiments were focused on qualification for high-temperature gas reactors (HTGRs), which have higher operating temperatures but lower particle powers than the KP-FHR design. To study the performance of TRISO fuel designed for HTGRs under prototypical FHR conditions, a set of experiments was designed using the MiniFuel irradiation vehicle at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). The experiments will irradiate 30 TRISO-containing carbon matrix compacts at inner small vertical experiment facilities in HFIR. Each compact will contain 20 TRISO particles (600 particles total) developed for HTGRs, consisting of either 14% enriched uranium dioxide uranium carbide, naturally enriched uranium dioxide, uranium carbide, or 9.6% enriched uranium dioxide fuel kernels with time- and volume-averaged silicon carbide layer temperatures between 500 and 900°C. This report summarizes the vehicle designs that have been developed, as well as the neutronic and thermal analyses completed for these irradiation experiments. These analyses show that MiniFuel compact irradiation is a versatile experiment that can be used to study a range of TRISO particle powers and fuel types while providing reasonable separation of burnup and temperature effects.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Analysis and design of insulation systems for LH2-fueled aircraft
An analytical program was conducted to evaluate the performance of 15 potential insulations for the fuel tanks of a subsonic LH2-fueled transport aircraft intended for airline service in the 1990-1995 time period. As a result, two candidate insulation systems are proposed for subsonic transport aircraft applications. Both candidates are judged to be the optimum available and should meet the design requirements. However, because of the long-life cyclic nature of the application and the cost sensitivity of airline operations, an experimental tank/insulation development or proof-of-concept program is recommended. This program should be carried out with a nearly full-scale system which would be subjected to the cyclic thermal and mechanical inputs anticipated in aircraft service.
Cunnington, G. R., Jr.↗
Vehicle Design Evaluation Program (VDEP). A computer program for weight sizing, economic, performance and mission analysis of fuel-conservative aircraft, multibodied aircraft and large cargo aircraft using both JP and alternative fuels
The NASA Langley Research Center vehicle design evaluation program (VDEP-2) was expanded by (1) incorporating into the program a capability to conduct preliminary design studies on subsonic commercial transport type aircraft using both JP and such alternate fuels as hydrogen and methane;(2) incorporating an aircraft detailed mission and performance analysis capability; and (3) developing and incorporating an external loads analysis capability. The resulting computer program (VDEP-3) provides a preliminary design tool that enables the user to perform integrated sizing, structural analysis, and cost studies on subsonic commercial transport aircraft. Both versions of the VDEP-3 Program which are designated preliminary Analysis VDEP-3 and detailed Analysis VDEP utilize the same vehicle sizing subprogram which includes a detailed mission analysis capability, as well as a geometry and weight analysis for multibodied configurations.
Oman, B. H.↗
Techno-economic analysis and network design for CO 2 conversion to jet fuels in the United States
The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into jet fuel holds significant potential for reducing CO 2 emissions, providing an alternative to carbon-based resources, and offering a renewable means of energy storage. The objective of this study is to conduct a techno-economic analysis and optimize the supply chain network for converting CO 2 to jet fuel in the United States, aiming to minimize total costs while assessing the environmental and economic feasibility of two CO 2 conversion pathways. This first pathway is based on Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS), and the other one is based on the valorization and upgrading of light methanol (MeOH). Incorporating spatial and techno-economic data, a mixed-integer linear programming model was developed to select source plants and conversion pathways, locations of conversion refinery sites, and the amount of captured CO 2 across the United States. The optimal results indicate that the FTS pathway is adopted at all selected refineries when the hydrogen price is 1000 dollars/t and the operating cost, mainly electricity used in conversion, is reduced to 5 % of its current level. Under this scenario, the total annual profit is 8 billion dollars, and the net carbon emissions are -88,783,284 tons. The sensitivity analyses reveal that the prices of electricity and hydrogen significantly contribute to total production costs. The CO 2 recycle percentage of the FTS pathway influences the choice of applied pathways at refineries. Additionally, a higher conversion rate holds a substantial promise for reducing the total production cost and can make the MeOH pathway a viable choice.
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
PEM Fuel Cell MODEL for Conceptual Design of Hydrogen eVTOL Aircraft
A model and software for design and analysis of a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system are developed for hydrogen eVTOL aircraft. Examples are provided of stacks designed for 80 kWe and 500 kWe net electrical power. Examples are provided of eVTOL designed for 250 and 400 lb payload. The trade-offs included stack characteristics, hydrogen storage characteristics, and aircraft payload and range. The objectives were to identify the key technology drivers of a hydrogen rotorcraft, establish technology targets for a viable aircraft, and recommend research to address the fundamental pre-competitive barriers. The current U.S. infrastructure on hydrogen informed the targets and recommendations. The key conclusion is that the advances made in cell electrochemical power density over the last decade might allow a PEMFC system to meet, or even beat, piston engine powered light-utility rotorcraft. The development must focus on the key drivers of a hydrogen eVTOL. The drivers are ultra-light stack cooling and short-term hydrogen storage. A stack system of net electrical power 100−150 kWe with specific power 1.1 kWe/kg including air, cooling, and electrical subsystems, and a tank storage of 15% weight fraction hydrogen are the minimum targets to meet the performance of a modern piston-engine rotorcraft, with a range of 180 nautical miles, payload of 400 lb, and gross weight of about 1400 lb. This is defined as the objective aircraft. If only one target is met, an aircraft of half the range could be produced, with a 30% greater gross take-off weight. This is defined as an intermediate aircraft. Because definitive conclusions are premature without weights and loads data on a flight-worthy stack system, it is recommended that a fuel cell powered hydrogen eVTOL demonstrator be built and flown. The existing hydrogen infrastructure for cars provide ample opportunity to create a pilot program. About 12 metric tons of retail hydrogen are available for cars every day in California, which is less than 0.05% of the yearly hydrogen production in the U.S.. A hypothetical fleet of 100 aircraft, operating 3 flights a day, would increase the demand by 2.25 tons per day and require 140 MWh of renewable electricity for green hydrogen.
PEM↗
Thermodynamic parametric analysis of refueling heavy-duty hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles
Reliable design and safe operation of heavy-duty hydrogen refueling stations are essential for the successful deployment of heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Fueling heavy-duty FCEVs is different from light-duty vehicles in terms of the dispensed hydrogen quantities and fueling rates, requiring tailored fueling station design for each vehicle class. In particular, the selection and design of the onboard hydrogen storage tank system and the fueling performance requirements influence the safe design of hydrogen fueling stations. A thermodynamic modeling and analysis are performed to evaluate the impact of various fueling parameters and boundary conditions on the fueling performance of heavy-duty FCEVs. Here, we studied the effect of dispenser pressure ramp rate and precooling temperature, initial tank temperature and pressure, ambient temperature, and onboard storage design parameters, such as onboard storage pipe diameter and length, on the fueling rate and final vehicle state-of-charge, while observing prescribed tank pressure and temperature safety limits. An important finding was the sensitivity of the temporal fueling rate profile and the final tank state of charge to the design factors impacting pressure drop between the dispenser and vehicle tank, including onboard storage pipe diameter selection, and flow coefficients of nozzle, valves, and fittings. The fueling rate profile impacts the design and cost of the hydrogen precooling unit upstream of the dispenser.
08 HYDROGEN↗
Flashback characterization of additively manufactured swirl-stabilized fuel injector with varying surface roughness
This work investigates the effects of as-built surface roughness on the flashback propensity in additively manufactured (AM) swirl-stabilized lean premixed (LPM) fuel injectors. Adoption of AM for rapid prototyping and fabrication of complex fuel-flexible injector designs requires investigating surface roughness effects on the flow and flame stability characteristics of the combustor. Wall roughness increases the near-wall shear, which could alter the boundary layer structure and change the propensity for flame flashback. Accounting for the realistic as-built surface roughness is crucial in carrying out computational modeling and experimental analysis to establish a feedback loop for the precision designing of fuel-flexible injectors. The presented numerical analysis of as-built AM injector is an essential consideration to optimize injector design for aerodynamics and additive manufacturability.
Mohanty, Pratikshya↗
Automated reactor physics analysis framework of High Flux Isotope Reactor low-enriched uranium silicide dispersion fuel designs
The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is a versatile research reactor that provides one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any reactor in the world. The HFIR reactor physics team investigated the conversion of the current 93 wt% highly enriched uranium U 3 O 8 -Al dispersion fuel to a 19.75% low-enriched uranium (LEU) U 3 Si 2 -Al dispersion fuel. The team continuously develops a Python module to streamline the analysis steps required for an LEU core design to ensure reproducible and agile design iteration. The Python module automates the data processing between analysis steps and automates the input perturbation for branch calculations and design changes. The automated framework has proven to significantly increase the efficiency and reproducibility of the reactor physics team to design High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) LEU cores and thoroughly analyze performance metrics, safety metrics, and thermal safety margins. Consequently, the team can now respond rapidly to fuel fabrication engineer and thermal-hydraulic-structural analyst requests. Numerous combinations of LEU fuel designs are explored, of which two LEU fuel designs are presented here in this paper: a low density silicide design, and a high-density silicide design. Results show that both designs meet or exceed safety and performance metrics with exception for minor differences caused by the hardened spectrum from LEU.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Comparison of MURR high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel element and design demonstration element irradiation thermo-mechanical analysis predictions
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Wang, Guanyi↗
Importance of 3-D S{sub N} depletion in non-proliferation using BSOLVE
We present a single Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) 3-D fuel rod design for depletion analysis using BSOLVE, our newly developed Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg based depletion code. BSOLVE is coupled with the deterministic 3-D S{sub N} particle transport code, PENTRAN, applied here with a 4-neutron energy group comparison to Continuous Energy (C/E) SERPENT2 Monte Carlo results. Differences are expected, as PENTRAN+BSOLVE retains full (multi-group) energy information for reactions, nuclide specific fission contributions, and energy dependent fission yields, using the latest available ENDF-BVIII data, important to retain accurate burned fuel inventories; SERPENT2 collapses burnup reactions to a single energy value. For depletion times up to ∼ 700 days and typical PWR power densities, relative differences between multigroup 3-D S{sub N} with full energy data and Monte Carlo one group burnup for trans-uranium nuclide concentrations and fission products are up to ∼20%. System eigenvalues are consistent, but with differences early and late in the cycle attributed to multigroup vs. C/E Monte Carlo cross sections. This work highlights the importance of low variance transport driven burnup for non-proliferation concerns, since plutonium quality varies significantly along axial lengths, and is more challenging to converge using Monte Carlo; details of depletion steps with spatial/zone dependent plutonium quality are provided. (authors)
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Application of numerical methods to heat transfer and thermal stress analysis of aerospace vehicles
The paper describes a thermal-structural design analysis study of a fuel-injection strut for a hydrogen-cooled scramjet engine for a supersonic transport, utilizing finite-element methodology. Applications of finite-element and finite-difference codes to the thermal-structural design-analysis of space transports and structures are discussed. The interaction between the thermal and structural analyses has led to development of finite-element thermal methodology to improve the integration between these two disciplines. The integrated thermal-structural analysis capability developed within the framework of a computer code is outlined.
Wieting, A. R.↗
Coal conversion processes and analysis methodologies for synthetic fuels production
Information to identify viable coal gasification and utilization technologies is presented. Analysis capabilities required to support design and implementation of coal based synthetic fuels complexes are identified. The potential market in the Southeast United States for coal based synthetic fuels is investigated. A requirements analysis to identify the types of modeling and analysis capabilities required to conduct and monitor coal gasification project designs is discussed. Models and methodologies to satisfy these requirements are identified and evaluated, and recommendations are developed. Requirements for development of technology and data needed to improve gasification feasibility and economies are examined.
Source record↗
Design and performance analysis of a de-coupled solid oxide fuel cell gas turbine hybrid
Not Available
Hedberg, Garrett (ORCID:0000000335282047)↗
Enabling Load Following Capability in the Transatomic Power MSR
This project is dedicated towards designing a fuel processing system that enables liquid-fueled molten salt reactors (MSR) to load follow by removing the dissolved xenon in the fuel salt. As one of the Gen-IV nuclear reactor concepts, the molten salt reactor receives increasing development interests in the recent years. One distinguishing feature of the liquid-fueled molten salt reactor is its improved ability to operate in a load-following mode by including the unique online fission product removal system. Load-following means that the reactor changes its power output based on the demand on the grid. Most of the current operating nuclear reactors have limited load-following ability and operate as the base load on the grid. Due to the rapid increase of solar energy, the requirement on load-following capacity is significantly increased because of the varying power output of the solar panels, yet the traditional load-following capacity is expected to decrease as the decarbonization of the grid continues. Therefore, the ability to perform load-following operation for the nuclear reactors will greatly enhance the resilience of the grid and make nuclear energy more economically competitive. This load-following feature is included in many commercial molten salt reactor designs, such as the designs by Transatomic Power, Terrestrial Energy, and Flibe Energy. Unfortunately, detailed analysis of the fuel processing system for commercial scale MSRs is still lacking, as well as how the fuel processing quantitively impacts the load-following operation. Moreover, experimental data for many of the underlying physics of fuel processing is limited. This project aims to pave the way for the fuel processing technology to advance to the commercial stage by performing combined experimental and simulation research. During the project period, four interconnected aspects of the development of the fuel processing system in liquid-fueled molten salt reactors are investigated. These aspects are the simulation and analysis of the fission product removal system, the fuel cycle simulation, the coupled reactor neutronics and thermal hydraulics transient simulation, and the gaseous fission product removal experiment. Multiphase CFD simulations are performed for components of the processing systems, and simplified air-water experiments are carried out to provide validation data. It is concluded that the CFD simulation can satisfactorily predict the system level performance of the components, and engineering models are constructed based on this success. Fuel cycle analysis is performed for two representative MSR design, the MSBR and the Transatomic Power MSR. Open-source code SaltProc is developed to incorporate the unique fuel processing system of the MSRs. It is concluded that the removal of xenon is essential for load-following operation in thermal spectrum MSR and Molten Salt Breeder Reactor. For the Transatomic Power MSR, the xenon poisoning effect is negligible due to its relatively fast neutron spectrum, though the overall fuel cycle economics still benefits from the removal of xenon. Coupled reactor neutronics and thermal hydraulics transient simulation is performed specifically for the Transatomic Power MSR. It is concluded that the reactor core design could perform power ramping fast enough to satisfy load-following operation. Combining the findings from each aspect, it is concluded that the load-following operation of a thermal neutron MSR is dependent upon the removal of xenon, which could be achieved for a commercial sized reactor using continuous inert gas sparging in a separate system with reasonable dimensions.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Time-Dependent Simulations of Turbopump Flows
The objective of the current effort is to provide a computational framework for design and analysis of the entire fuel supply system of a liquid rocket engine, including high-fidelity unsteady turbopump flow analysis. This capability is needed to support the design of pump sub-systems for advanced space transportation vehicles that are likely to involve liquid propulsion systems. To date, computational tools for design/analysis of turbopump flows are based on relatively lower fidelity methods. An unsteady, three-dimensional viscous flow analysis tool involving stationary and rotational components for the entire turbopump assembly has not been available for real-world engineering applications. The present effort will provide developers with information such as transient flow phenomena at start up, impact of non-uniform inflows, system vibration and impact on the structure. In the proposed paper, the progress toward the capability of complete simulation of the turbo-pump for a liquid rocket engine is reported. The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump is used as a test case for evaluation of the hybrid MPI/Open-MP and MLP versions of the INS3D code. The relative motion of the grid systems for the rotor-stator interaction was obtained using overset grid techniques. Time-accuracy of the scheme has been evaluated with simple test cases. Unsteady computations for the SSME turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.5 million grid points, are carried out on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. Results from these time-accurate simulations with moving boundary capability will be presented along with the performance of parallel versions of the code.
Kris, Cetin C.↗