Review on heat transfer and flow characteristics of liquid sodium (2): Two-phase

Abstract

With the development of sodium-cooled reactor (SFR), the research on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of liquid sodium becomes increasingly important and necessary. Through decades of experimental and theoretical research under different conditions, certain achievements have been obtained. To further carry out relevant studies, a review work on this topic is of necessity. As pointed out by scholars, sodium boiling might occur during hypothetical accidents, which might cause great damage to the SFRs. For safety analysis, the boiling of liquid sodium has already become a focus in this research area. Based on an extensive review on the published literature, this paper concerns two major topics, i.e. the boiling heat transfer and two-phase flow characteristics of liquid sodium. The former topic focuses on the characteristics of sodium boiling in pools, round tubes and annuli, including the correlations for the boiling heat transfer coefficient, the incipient boiling wall superheat and critical heat flux of dryout type. Also, the correlations for the single-phase flow in bundle channels are presented here due to the fact that relevant research on the sodium boiling in rod bundles is relatively insufficient and the relevant correlations are rarely found. For the part of two-phase flow characteristics, the correlations for the two-phase pressure drop multiplier are presented and analyzed. Finally, conclusions and prospects in this research field are summarized and proposed.