Correlations of Nucleate Boiling Heat Transfer and Critical Heat Flux for External Reactor Vessel Cooling

Four types of steady-state boiling experiments were conducted to investigate the efficacy of two distinctly different heat transfer enhancement methods for external reactor vessel cooling under severe accident conditions. One method involved the use of a thin vessel coating and the other involved the use of an enhanced insulation structure. By comparing the results obtained in the four types of experiments, the separate and integral effect of vessel coating and insulation structure were determined. Correlation equations were obtained for the nucleate boiling heat transfer and the critical heat flux. It was found that both enhancement methods were quite effective. Depending on the angular location, the local critical heat flux could be enhanced by 1.4 to 2.5 times using vessel coating alone whereas it could be enhanced by 1.8 to 3.0 times using an enhanced insulation structure alone. When both vessel coating and insulation structure were used simultaneously, the integral effect on the enhancement was found much less than the product of the two separate effects, indicating possible competing mechanisms (i.e., interference) between the two enhancement methods.