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Ridge National Laboratory Nuclear Science and Technology Division Experimentation to Examine Molten Salt Heat Transfer in a Pebble Bed Requesting applications from science or engineering faculty members at institutions serving students underrepresented in science, engineering, mathematics and technology to work on the following projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Project Description Molten salts have a low vapor pressure at high temperatures. These salts have heat transfer characteristics similar to water at much lower pressures, and may serve as the next generation heat transfer medium. Salts have been proposed as coolants for advanced reactor concepts, and as a heat transfer medium for thermal transport at very high temperatures. The proposed project will help complete the development of an experiment to study the behavior of FLiNaK salt flowing through a heated pebble bed. Participants will be asked to help complete an experiment to investigate molten salts as a heat transfer medium. A small forced convection experiment will be under construction that will allow heat transfer measurements of a high temperature (700o C) molten salt. The experiment design uses a small pumped molten salt loop designed to provide the desired flow and temperature conditions to a heated pebble bed. The pebble bed is used to simulate fuel pebbles in a molten salt reactor. The faculty/student team will be asked to help perform analysis on the loop and pebble bed so that detailed data comparisons can be made. The loop design includes an instrumentation package so that heat transfer characteristics in the pebble bed can be determined. The faculty and students will be asked to develop methodologies to support data analysis of the pebble bed once the experiments are performed, and to perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the bed. The former will include identification of applicable heat transfer and pressure drop correlations from the literature and incorporating them in a software package for post experiment comparisons. The analysis will include developing a CFD model of the pebble bed based on as built dimensions, and running a variety of cases with parametric conditions to be duplicated during the experiments. Participants will be asked to use a variety of techniques to execute this study. These may range from hand calculations to performing thermal calculations using sophisticated thermal/fluid analysis tools such as CFX, and FLUENT. Laboratory Contact: Graydon L. Yoder, Jr. Ph: (865) 945-3660 e-mail:yodergljr@ornl.gov Applicants’ Responsibilities and Relationship to Project Applicants will receive support under the Department of Energy Faculty Student Team Research Program (FaST) to work collaboratively with the project research team at the Laboratory for up to 10 weeks during the summer of 2010. The exact appointment period in the time frame of June to August will be scheduled by mutual agreement between the host divisions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the successful applicant. Faculty will be expected to identify two to three students from their campuses to participate in the FaST program. The faculty member will provide some mentorship to students during the summer research activities. The faculty and students must participate as a group and serve their appointments concurrently. It is expected that the faculty member and the students become an integral part of the research team working on this project and that opportunities for continued collaboration may be identified. Qualifications of Ideal Candidate Faculty should have a proven research record in the thermal/fluid sciences. Students should have a background in the same and an interest in performing thermal analysis to develop experimental designs. Support and Financial Commitments The successful candidate will receive a stipend based on the academic salary, travel expenses to and from the Laboratory, and a housing allowance. Students recommended by the faculty member for participation in the program will receive a stipend of $425/week for each week at the Laboratory, plus a housing allowance, and reimbursement for transportation expenses to and from the ORNL. Funds are provided for this program from the US Department of Energy, Office of Science in partnership with the National Science Foundation, from ORNL, and from other sources.
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