Research progress on boiling heat transfer of nanofluids with emphasis on IVR-ERVC strategy

Abstract

In-vessel retention-external reactor vessel cooling (IVR-ERVC) is the most important method for mitigating serious accidents of the third generation of pressurized water reactor (PWR). Nanofluids are new types of heat transfer media containing nanoparticles between 1 and 100 nm with excellent thermal properties. This paper takes nanofluids and IVR-ERVC strategy as the objects, summarizes the pool boiling and flow boiling heat transfer research in the past 15 years, among which downward-facing heating research has been focused on. Most of the nanofluids can increase the critical heat flux (CHF), which is related to the orientation and angle of the heating surface, mass flux, and concentration, etc. However, there is uncertainty about the effect of nanofluids on promoting or inhibiting the boiling heat transfer coefficient (HTC). The mechanism of nanofluids affecting boiling heat transfer is complex, nanoparticle deposition seriously affects the surface characteristics, physical properties of nanofluids, bubble characteristics and magnetic field are also not negligible. It is important to further expand the experimental data specifically for IVR-ERVC strategy in the future, the mechanism should be deeply analyzed from the perspective of bubble dynamics, and it is necessary to enrich the prediction models to expand its applicability.