Abstract
In the present work, a new transient calculation method for parameters that can be used to evaluate the ability of oxygen control in a non-isothermal lead–bismuth eutectic (LBE) loop with solid-phase oxygen control was proposed. It incorporates the dissolution process of PbO particles and the oxygen mass transfer process, and an optimized method was used for finding out the optimized oxygen mass transfer coefficient. In numerical terms, three mass transfer models were simultaneously applied, and comparisons of calculated and experimental results from the CRAFT loop indicated that the optimized calculation method and these new oxygen mass transfer models were correct and applicable to other LBE loops. Through this calculation method, we aimed to optimize prediction of the distribution of oxygen and iron concentrations, time taken to establish the steady state of oxygen, and maximum dissolution/precipitation rates of corrosion products and corrosion depth across the entire LBE loop. We hope that this work will provide a potential reference for designing a more intelligent oxygen control system in the future.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Xiao-Bo Li, Rui-Xian Liang, Yi-Feng Wang, Hui-Ping Zhu, Fang Liu, Yang Liu, Cong Li, Hao Wu, and Feng-Lei Niu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xiao-Bo Li, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 12027813 and 12105101) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the National key project (No. 2019YFB1901301).
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Li, XB., Liang, RX., Wang, YF. et al. An optimized numerical method to pre-researching the performance of solid-phase oxygen control in a non-isothermal lead–bismuth eutectic loop. NUCL SCI TECH 33, 31 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01023-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01023-z