Buoyancy-Enhanced Oxygen Transport in the Experimental Liquid Lead Bismuth Eutectic Container

Authors

Taide Tan, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Yitung Chen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Xianfang Tan, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-15-2009

Publication Title

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

Volume

46

Issue

2

First page number:

109

Last page number:

131

Abstract

The active oxygen control technique is a recently developed effective method for mitigating structural corrosions by forming a protective oxide film along the structural materials in corrosive lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) systems. The mechanisms of LBE corrosion and the oxidation of stainless steel in LBE environment have been analyzed. The active oxygen control technique is introduced and the oxidation experiment results with oxygen control are summarized. The buoyancy-enhanced oxygen transport, both laminar and turbulent, in the experimental LBE container has been numerically investigated using the finite volume method. The flux of oxygen at the gas-liquid and solid-liquid interfaces, the oxygen concentration in the bulk flow, and the rate of oxide layer formation are calculated. The time needed for the momentum and energy to reach the steady state and the time for the bulk concentration of oxygen to reach equilibrium are estimated. The rate of oxide layer formation on the steel surface under different thermal boundary conditions and diffusivities is also calculated. The numerical analysis provides a guideline for the design and setup of the apparatus in testing and calibrating low-concentration oxygen sensors and to study the oxidation of stainless steel containers for LBE.

Keywords

Active oxygen; Buoyancy; Corrosion and anti-corrosives; Eutectics; Laminar flow; Lead Bismuth; LBE; Oxidation; Oxide coating; Oxygen; Stainless steel; Steel alloys; Transport; Turbulence

Disciplines

Engineering | Mechanical Engineering | Nuclear Engineering

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Tan, T., Chen, Y., Tan, X. (2009). Buoyancy-Enhanced Oxygen Transport in the Experimental Liquid Lead Bismuth Eutectic Container. Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 46(2), 109-131.