Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer Characteristics between Liquid Lithium Lead and Oil

Abstract

The liquid LiPb experimental loop is an essential device for studying the compatibility of LiPb with structural materials of the fusion reactor. The heat exchanger is one of the most important devices of the LiPb loop, which is used to control the temperature distribution and study the LiPb flow characteristics in the working condition of the LiPb loop. Based on the heat transfer theory, the liquid LiPb experimental loop cooler is designed at first, which is a tube-type countercurrent heat exchanger with YD-300 heat-conducting oil as the coolant. Numerical simulation analysis was carried out to verify the feasibility of the design scheme under the design condition and the normal operation by using the FLUENT software. The results show that the theoretical design parameters are in good agreement with the numerical simulation results and the average concentration deviation is less than 2%. Furthermore, the average volume temperature and film temperature of heat conducting oil under different working conditions are lower than 310℃ and 375℃ respectively, which indicates that the cooling effect of the LiPb fluid can be realized and the design scheme of the cooler is reasonable.