Experimental Investigation of Flow Resistance and Wall Shear Stress in the Interior Subchannel of a Triangular Array of Parallel Rods

Abstract

A simulated model of a triangular array of rods with pitch to diameter ratio of 1.1 with air flow was used to study the hydraulic parameters of the liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) fuel geometry. The wall shear stress distribution, static pressure distribution, turbulence intensity, and friction factor were measured in the central subchannel from Reynolds numbers of 4 × 103 to 36 × 103 . Our results show that the maximum wall shear stress occurs at the largest flow area, the static pressure is not uniform around the rod periphery, there is no detectable presence of secondary flow from the wall shear stress measurements, and the friction factor derived from the measured wall shear stress is less than the common friction factor derived from pressure drop measurement.