Liquid metal heat transfer in heat exchangers under low flow rate conditions

The present paper describes the liquid metal heat transfer in heat exchangers under low flow rate conditions. Measured data from some experiments indicate that heat transfer coefficients of liquid metals at very low Péclet number are much lower than what are predicted by the well-known empirical relations. The cause of this phenomenon was not fully understood for many years. In the present study, one countercurrent-type heat exchanger is analyzed using three, separated countercurrent heat exchanger models: one is a heat exchanger model in the tube bank region, while the upper and lower plena are modeled as two heat exchangers with a single heat transfer tube. In all three heat exchangers, the same empirical correlation is used in the heat transfer calculation on the tube and the shell sides. The Nusselt number, as a function of the Péclet number, calculated from measured temperature and flow rate data in a 50 MW experimental facility was correctly reproduced by the calculation result, when the calculated result is processed in the same way as the experiment. Finally, it is clarified that the deviation is a superficial phenomenon which is caused by the heat transfer in the plena of the heat exchanger. (author)