Structural Pre-sizing of a Coaxial Double-tube Type Hot Gas Duct

The nuclear hydrogen system being researched at KAERI is planning to produce hydrogen in the order of 950 .deg. C by using nuclear energy and a thermo-chemical process, and helium gas is tentatively considered as the choice for the coolant. A hot gas duct (HGD) is a key component connecting the reactor pressure vessel and the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) for the nuclear hydrogen system. The HGD is a unique component exclusively found in an HTR-module concept where a nuclear core and IHX are placed separately into two pressure vessels, which require a connecting duct between them. A coaxial double-tube type cross vessel is considered for the HGD structure of the nuclear hydrogen system because of its successive extensive experience. In this study, a structural pre-sizing for the primary HGD was carried out. These activities include a predecision on the geometric dimensions, a pre-evaluation on the strength, and a pre-selection on the material of the coaxial double-tube type cross vessel components. A predecision on the geometric dimensions was undertaken based on various engineering concepts, such as a constant flow velocity (CFV) model, a constant flow rate (CFR) model, a constant hydraulic head (CHH) model, and finally a heat balanced (HB) model. For the CFV model, CFR model, and CHH model, the HGD structure might be insensitive to a flow induced vibration (FIV) in the case where there are no pressure differences between the hot and cold helium regions. Also we compared the geometric dimensions from the various models