Simulation on influences of Al2O3 nanofluids as coolant for nuclear power plant based on modified empirical formula of nanofluids thermal properties at high temperature and high pressure

Abstract

ABSTRACT The thermal properties of nanofluids are variable with working temperature and pressure and ignored by the existing empirical formula. In the present work, based on the application of nanofluids in pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power plants, different concentrations of Al2O3/H2O nanofluids are prepared for measuring its thermal properties and then modifying empirical formulas at high temperature and high pressure (HTHP). In addition, the primary heat transfer process of PWR nuclear power plants is simulated by numerical method. The results show that, when volume fraction within 2.0%, the heat transfer performance of Al2O3 nanofluid increases with the increase of concentrations; however, it is on the contrary when the volume fraction of nanoparticles is larger than 2%. Comparing with water as the coolant, Al2O3 nanofluids with 2% volume fraction give the largest heat transfer enhancement of 103%. Therefore, Al2O3 nanofluids as the coolant can achieve the goals of heat transfer enhancement and safety limit improvement.