Theoretical Analysis of Effective Thermal Conductivity for the Chinese HTR-PM Heat Transfer Test Facility

Abstract

The Chinese high temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble bed module (HTR-PM) demonstration project has attracted increasing attention. In order to support the project, a large-scale heat transfer test facility has been constructed for pebble bed effective thermal conductivity measurement over the whole temperature range (0~1600 °C). Based on different heat transfer mechanisms in the randomly packed pebble bed, three different types of effective thermal conductivity have been theoretically evaluated. A prediction of the total effective thermal conductivity of the pebble bed over the whole temperature range is provided for the optimization of the test facility and guidance of further experiments.

Keywords

• high temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble bed module
• heat transfer test facility
• effective thermal conductivity