Numerical analysis of a helically coiled tube heat exchanger performance utilized in molten salt nuclear reactors for molten salt and He-CO<sub>2</sub> working fluid conditions

Öztürk M., ÇİFTÇİ E.

PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY, cilt.187, 2025 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 187
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2025.105844
  • Dergi Adı: PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Compendex, Environment Index, INSPEC, Pollution Abstracts, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Heat transfer rate, Helically coiled tube heat exchanger, Molten salt reactor(MSR), Nuclear energy
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In addition to the growing global energy demand, the intermittency of conventional renewable energy sources has increasingly directed attention toward nuclear energy. In this study, a heat exchanger responsible for circulating the coolant fluids in Molten Salt Reactors (MSR) was investigated, and the numerical analysis of a helically coiled tube heat exchanger was carried out. The numerical simulations were performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach and completed with ANSYS Fluent (R) software. Initially, analyses were conducted for pure CO2 gas. Subsequently, CO2 was mixed with 25 %, 50 %, and 75 % helium (He) gas, and analyses were completed for each case. Finally, pure He performance was evaluated. Each set of analyses was performed for Reynolds numbers (Re) of 50000 and 100000. The results indicate that an increase in the Re number significantly enhanced the heat transfer rate. The addition of helium notably increased the heat transfer rate, with the maximum rate being obtained using pure He gas. However, the transportation and cost of helium must also be considered. Ultimately, mixing CO2 with He in the current model significantly improved system performance and could directly impact the power output of nuclear reactors. This approach enables higher coolant fluid temperatures to be achieved, thereby facilitating greater energy conversion efficiency.