High-temperature structural modeling on the process heat exchanger prototype for the helium gas loop

PHE (Process Heat Exchanger) is a key component to transfer the high temperature heat generated from a VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) to the chemical reaction for massive production of hydrogen. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute established a helium gas loop for the performance test of VHTR components and manufactured a PHE prototype in order to test in the helium gas loop. In this study, as a part of high-temperature structural integrity evaluation on the PHE prototype which is scheduled to be tested in the helium gas loop, we carried out high-temperature structural analysis modeling, thermal analysis, and a structural analysis for the PHE prototype under the fixed loop test conditions as a precedent study prior to the performance test in the helium gas loop. The results obtained in this study will be applied to the design of the performance test setup for the PHE prototype in the near future. (author)