High Temperature of Finned-tube Sodium-to-Air Heat Exchanger in the SELFA Test Loop

A medium-scale sodium test loop named as the 'SELFA'(Sodium Thermal‐hydraulic Experiment Loop for Finned‐tube Sodium‐to‐Air heat exchanger) for simulating thermal hydraulic behavior of the FHX (Finned-tube Sodium-to-Air heat Exchanger) in Korean prototype sodium-cooled fast reactor is planned to be constructed at KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). In this study, elevated temperature design for the FHX and creep-fatigue damage evaluation have been conducted according to the design codes of ASME section III subsection NH and RCC-MRx based on full 3D finite element analyses. Design optimization for the finned-tubes and tube arrangements in the scaled-down FHX mock-up has been performed. The materials of the FHX and piping systems are austenitic stainless steel 316, the design temperature and of the SELFA test loop is 600°C and design pressure is 1MPa. The damage evaluation results have shown that no creep-fatigue damage occurrs in the present design of the FHX under the intended test conditions. (author)