Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Progress in Nuclear Energy, cilt.197, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
The growing reliance on nuclear energy has accelerated due to increasing energy demand and sustainability concerns. In this context, not only energy production but also its efficient transfer has become crucial. Heat exchangers are among the key components enabling electricity generation from thermal energy. In this study, an elbowed double-pipe shell-and-tube heat exchanger was modeled for heat transfer applications in High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGR), and its performance was numerically analyzed using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. Helium (He) was used as the reactor coolant, while the cooling process employed nanoaerosol of 0.1%/Al2O3+He, 0.5%/Al2O3+He, and 0.9%/Al2O3+He. Three elbow configurations (4, 6, and 18 elbows) were examined under Reynolds numbers of Re = 13000, Re = 190000, and Re = 690000. The results indicate that heat transfer performance improves with increasing elbow number and Reynolds number; however, pressure drop also rises accordingly. Although nanoaerosol concentration enhances the Nusselt (Nu) and Prandtl (Pr) numbers, a more homogeneous temperature distribution and higher viscosity result in a lower temperature difference on the shell side. Thus, Reynolds number and elbow number positively affect energy and exergy performance, whereas nanoaerosol concentration exhibits an opposite trend. The maximum energy transfer and Exergy Gain Ratio (EGR) were achieved at Re = 690000 with 18 elbows using 0.1% Al2O3+He, reaching 1480.605 W and 169.27%, respectively. These findings highlight the need for optimization between pressure drop and thermal performance to achieve the best operating condition.