Graphite dust resuspension in an HTR-10 steam generator

Abstract

Graphite dust has an important effect on the safety of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTR). The flow field in the steam generator was studied by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, with the results indicating that the friction velocity in the windward and the leeward of the heat transfer tubes is relatively low and is higher at the sides. Further analysis of the resuspension of graphite dust indicates that the resuspension fraction reaches nearly zero for particles with a diameter less than 1μm, whereas it will increases as the helium velocity in the steam generator increases for particle size larger than 1μm. Moreover, the resuspension fraction increases as the particle size increases. The results also indicate that resuspension of the particles with sizes larger than 1μm exhibited obvious differences in different parts of the steam generator.