ABSTRACT

Predicting 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure losses associated with liquid metal flows in complex geometry ducts is required to design breeding blankets for fusion reactors. Of such components, manifolds exhibit major pressure losses. Recent correlations [T. Rhodeset al. Magnetohydrodynamic pressure drop and flow balancing of liquid metal flow in a prototypic fusion blanket manifold. Phys. Fluids. 2018; 30: 057101.] demonstrate promise for predicting pressure drops in electrically insulated inlet manifolds. In the present work, the extend to which these correlations can be applied to outlet manifolds, which feature sudden contractions, is investigated in both viscous-electromagnetic (VE) and inertial-electromagnetic (IE) regimes for Reynolds numbers 50 < Re < 1500, Hartmann numbers 2500 < Ha < 5475, and expansion/contraction ratio 10. Numerical computations have shown that the MHD pressure drops in the eutectic lead-lithium (PbLi) flows in contractions are almost identical to those in the flows featuring expansion with slightly higher magnitudes in the contraction cases. The small discrepancy in the MHD pressure drop between contractions and expansions (<8%) suggests that the earlier obtained correlations for the 3D MHD pressure drop in a duct flow with a sudden expansion can also be applied to flows with a sudden contraction.

摘要

需要预测与复杂几何管道中液态金属流动相关的 3D 磁流体动力学 (MHD) 压力损失，以设计聚变反应堆的增殖毯。在这些部件中，歧管表现出主要的压力损失。最近的相关性 [T. 罗德等人。原型聚变层歧管中液态金属流动的磁流体压降和流动平衡。物理。流体。2018 年；30: 057101.] 展示了预测电绝缘入口歧管中压降的前景。在目前的工作中，这些相关性可以应用于具有突然收缩的出口歧管的扩展，在雷诺数 50 <Re <1500 的粘性电磁 (VE) 和惯性电磁 (IE) 方案中进行了研究，哈特曼数 2500 <Ha <5475，和膨胀/收缩比 10. 数值计算表明，在收缩情况下，共晶铅锂（PbLi）流中的 MHD 压降几乎与具有膨胀的流中的压降相同，收缩情况下的幅度略高。收缩和膨胀之间 MHD 压降的小差异 (<8%) 表明，早先获得的具有突然膨胀的管道流中 3D MHD 压降的相关性也可以应用于突然收缩的流。