Heat transfer in intermediate heat exchanger under low flow rate conditions

The present paper describes the heat transfer in intermediate heat exchangers (IHXs) of liquid metal cooled fast reactors when flow rate is low such as a natural circulation condition. Although empirical correlations of heat transfer coefficients for IHX were derived using test data at the fast reactor 'Monju' and 'Joyo' and also at the 50 MW steam generator facility, the heat transfer coefficient was very low compared to the well known correlation for liquid metals proposed by Seban-Shimazaki. The heat conduction in IHX was discussed as a possible cause of the low Nusselt number. As a result, the heat conduction is not significant under the natural circulation condition, and the heat conduction term in the energy equation can be neglected in the one-dimensional plant dynamics calculation. (authors)