Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809

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Annals of Nuclear Energy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anucene

Closed-loop experimental investigation of single-phase natural

circulation flow phenomena based on temperature and heating power
variations
Solomon Bello, Puzhen Gao ⇑, Yuqi Lin
Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experimental investigation of single-phase, low pressure natural circulation flow phenomena has been
Received 2 April 2020 carried out. The study aims to critically analyze the thermal hydraulic parameters (temperature and heat-
Received in revised form 5 August 2020 ing power) variations as it affects transfer of heat in a closed-loop rectangular natura l circulation facility
Accepted 15 August 2020
having a single heated channel at predetermined inlet sub cooled temperature varied from 40 to 80 °C.
Available online 22 October 2020
Heating power varies between 7 kW
13 kW to portray several conditions of the reactor power in
response to temperature changes while sustaining single-phase flow circulation through the hydraulic
Keywords:
loop. Real-time signals of thermal hydraulic responses are observed via a graphical interface for data
Natural circulation
Single-phase flow
acquisition when stable flow or self-sustained flow oscillations are achieved. Results obtained were ana-
Temperature variation lyzed at several sections of the hydraulic circuit which are basically pressure drops and flow rate due to
Power variation temperature differences and heating power increments. These results and observations made through
Closed-loop them thus contribute to the database which is important for characterizing natural circulation phenom-
Heat transfer ena and acquisition of dominants parameters for the scaling analysis of future designs.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Single-phase natural circulation is the mode of coolant circula-
tion in the current pressurized water and heavy water reactors
(PWRs and PHWRs) in the event of circulating pump failure and
also applied in the primary loop of certain reactors such as the dis-
trict heating reactors and the CAREM Modular Reactor. The con-
ception of natural circulation (NC) systems in nuclear reactor is
the system that ensures the circulation and transfer of the fluid
inside a loop without any external forces or pumps as it is based
on natural phenomena which occur due to differences in fluid den-
sity in hot and cold region (Jain, 2010) leading to gravitational
force (Kozmenkov et al., 2012) which is primarily a function of
the temperature difference in the hot region. The greater the ther-
mal driving head, the better the resulting flow rate. It is however
recommended to keep the hot fluid sub cooled to prevent a change
of phase from occurring. Though two-phase NC flow is possible but
it is usually more challenging to maintain flow (Park, 2017).
Features of these passive (NC) systems are projected to improve
the nuclear reactor safety and prevent accident occurrence (Jain,
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: solomon.bello@hrbeu.edu.cn (S. Bello), gaopuzhen@hrbeu.edu.
cn (P. Gao).
2010; Kozmenkov et al., 2012) but variation in its parameters such
as the thermal hydraulics parameter operational (i.e. reactor
power, fluid temperature, system pressure) and the geometric
parameters (i.e., height differences between core (heater) and heat
exchanger (cooler) (H), total loop length (L), pipe diameter (D), and
orientation of source and sink (Juarsa, 2018) are crucial as it will
influence the transfer of heat from the heat source (Core) and
serves as a measure of determining the heat transfer capability of
the NC Systems which is directly proportional to the flow rate it
can generate (Vijayan, 2008). These systems are characterized by
their simplicity and high reliability and relatively cost effective
because of the absence of any moving parts. State-of-the-art
reviews on single-phase natural circulations have been reported
by several authors (Basu et al., 2014). Due to their wide application
in industries, specific investigations of thermal-hydraulics charac-
teristics in both single-phase and two-phase NC systems are being
widely studied (Xia et al., 2016; Mangal et al., 2012; Sabundjian,
2011) in similar conditions to the circuit of residual heat removal
of nuclear reactors.
The investigations were carried out using the power variation in
the heater and flow variation of cooling water of secondary system
to the computational model validation RELAP5. However, the
investigation was limited to single-phase NC loops with both hea-
ter and cooler horizontally positioned. This present study though

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107809
0306-4549/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin
Nomenclature
W mass flowrate [kg/s]
A cross section of flow area [m2]
q heat flux [kW/m2]
h specific enthalpy [J/kg]
Avg average value
Nu Nusselt number
Pr Prandtl number
k thermal conductivity of the fluid
DPloss total pressure loss
DPf frictional pressure drop
DPl local pressure drop
DT change in Temperature [°C]
g acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)
Cp specific heat [kJ/kg C]
D diameter [m]
l length [m]
R radius [m]
u voltage [V]
P system pressure [MPa]
Q heating power (kW)
f frictional factor
K local pressure drop coefficient
v velocity [m/s2]
maintained a single-phase condition but provides more insight
with a loop geometry having vertical heater and horizontal cooler
of NC flow behavior to temperature variations along the hydraulic
circuit and heating power at predefined inlet sub cooled and low
system pressure. The results of the temperature distribution in
the heating channel and along the adiabatic riser to the heat
exchanger were presented and analyzed to determine useful char-
acteristics necessary for scaling analysis in the design of a proto-
type NC integral test facility. The heat loss by convection and
conduction in the tubing, the heat exchange between primary
and secondary systems and the heat transferred by heater to the
fluid of experimental loop based on the boundary and operating
conditions can be determined.
2. Methodology
2.1. Facility description
The experimental NC facility comprises a primary thermal–hy-
draulic loop, secondary cooling system, data acquisition system
and auxiliary experiment devices. Fig. 1 shows the pictorial view
of the NC experimental facility while Fig. 2 is the Schematic of
the NC Loop. The operating conditions are listed in Table 1. The
detailed description of experimental facility could also be found
in other researches. (Chen, 2018; Wang, 2018; Bello et al., 2020)
Components of the primary circuit include the heated section,
the up riser and downcomer, pressurizer, heat sink (heat exchan-
ger), pipes and control valves. Demineralized water is used as the
circulating fluid; the fluid leaves the heated tube and flows
through the vertical pipe (adiabatic riser).
A stainless-steel tube of length 1800 mm and thickness of
1.0 mm with an outer diameter of 16.00 mm was used as the heat-
ing channel. Several thermocouples are attached at the outer sur-
face of the hydraulics circuit to record the changes in inlet
temperature of the test section, riser, and downcomer). A shell
and tube heat exchanger is positioned at a height of about
3500 mm between the center of the heating channel and the heat
sink to improve NC capability. The HX counter cooling effect helps
2
Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809
H height [m]
Qt quantity of heat [W]
Greek letters
q density [kg/m3]
v kinematic viscosity [N.s/m2]
u heat transfer efficiency [W/m2 K]
a thermal diffusivity of the fluid
Subscripts
local
l
frictional
f
hot section
h
cold section
c
out outlet
inlet
in
average
avg
w wall
saturation
sat
subcooling
sub
to lowers the temperature of the circulating fluid in the primary
circuit with water at room temperature from the controllable sec-
ondary cooling tank.
The heat source of circuit signifies the heat dissipated by elec-
trical resistors, through Joule effect, that is transformed in thermal
energy. Several pressure transducers and sensors are attached to
monitor pressure signal of key components. An electromagnetic
flow meter installed between the heated channel inlet and pressur-
izer surge line. Teflon insulating gasket was use to electrically insu-
late the heated section from other parts of the channel while the
hydraulic loop was also insulated to limit loss of heat during the
experiment. The electromagnetic flow meter was installed in-
between the heated section and pressurizer heat exchanger is used
to remove heat added to the liquid by natural convection. This sys-
tem consists of circulation of heated fluid through the tubing, in
primary side of the hydraulic circuit. Expansion tank is used to
allow the fluid volume expansion caused by temperature increase.
The increase of fluid level in the expansion tank, translates the vol-
ume inventory the hydraulic circuit, which was expanded due to
the heat transferred to the fluid.
Fig. 3 is presented to define clearly the position coordinate (Z)
and the actual measuring points along the experimental circuit.
From Fig. 3, Point 1 is the onset position representing the inlet of
the heater measured by TC1 while point 2 is between the negative
and positive electrode of the heater comprising of twenty (20)
measuring points measured by TC2-TC21. The other set of thermo-
couples (T22, T23) is positioned along the upriser to detect the
temperature in the upstream denoted by point 3 with TC22 value
doubling as the exit of the heater and TC23 value as the inlet of
the HX respectively.
T24 is left at the exit of HX (point 4) to determine the heat loss.
These thermocouples are located in the designed strategic posi-
tions to directly measure the temperatures distribution with min-
imum errors. Four (4) pressure gauges (P1, P2, P3) were also
positioned to obtain the pressure at the inlet, heater and upriser
respectively with the fourth on the pressurizer to set and maintain
the system pressure while the flow meter is designated as F and
positioned at the inlets of the heating channel, to significantly
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809

Fig. 1. (a) Graphical user interface for the facility (b) Pictorial View of the Natural Circulation Experimental Facility.

Fig. 2. Natural Circulation Loop Schematic.

3
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809

Table 1 the experimental value. Water temperature at the inlet of the test
NCL geometrical dimensions. section is then sustained at the predetermined value for the exper-
Parameter Value (mm) imental readings.
Heater length 1800 Table 2 presents the test conditions, the temperature range and
Length of heated channel 1600 heating powers coupled with the low pressure was chosen to sus-
Diameter of heater 14 tain a single phase condition in the natural circulation facility used
Riser length 3000 considering that natural circulation under low pressure could be
Riser diameter 40
Downcomer length 5000
used in the heat removal of passive containment. These test condi-
tions for the single-phase flow were maintained by controlling the
heating power step by step at different inlet sub cooling. Data are
reduce the effect of resistance on the natural circulation flow at the recorded when stable flow or self-sustained flow oscillations are
cold sections. The distances between each measuring points are acquired.
measure in mm. The flow in NCS starts developing only after the heat source has
been activated. The heating process in the heater section is the
2.2. Experimental procedures and test conditions driving force for the flow. The heat supplied by the electric heater
is recorded in several section of the channel as shown in Fig. 3, this
A centrifugal pump is used to provide the initial flow, the pump will generate buoyancy and the flow will be created in the loop
will be put off and bypassed (by adjusting the flow valves) when such that, in steady state, the buoyancy is balanced by friction.
natural circulation conditions are obtained and established. The Base on the Test condition listed in table 2, if the heating power
flow valve in the secondary loop through which cold water flows is increased further, the flow rate will also increase. The heat is
in to the heat exchanger can be regulated to control water temper- then transferred from the heated section to adjacent unheated sec-
ature at the inlet of the tests section in the primary loop to attain tions by conduction and secondary natural convection. This is par-

Fig. 3. Test conditions measuring points.

4
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809

  !
Table 2 l _2
w
Test Conditions. DPf ¼ f ; ð7Þ
D 2qA2
Parameters Devices Range
Flow rate Electro-magnetic flow meter 0.01–1.50 (m3/h) where l is the length and D the external diameter. The friction fac-
Heating power Electrical heater 7–13 kW tor, f is given in terms of Reynolds number as follows;
Inlet sub cooling T-type thermocouple 40–80 °C (
System pressure Pressurizer 0.2–0.5 MPa
64
Re
ðLaminar flowÞ
f¼ ð8Þ
0:25 ðTurbulent flowÞ
0:3164
Re

ticularly true for natural circulation systems having horizontal

heaters. In such systems, there is always a time lag between the
application of heater power and onset of bulk loop  The Reynolds number is given by;

qvd
3. Singlephase natural circulation Re ¼ ð9Þ
l
The closed loop single phase NC follows the conservation of And for a circular section;
mass and energy. From continuity equation we have. _
4w
Re ¼
_ ¼ q v cA ¼ q v hA
W c h ð1Þ lPD:

_ h
hc Þ
q ¼ Wðh ð2Þ
c. Temperature difference:
where ðqÞis the density,ðv Þ the viscosity and (A) the cross sectional
area. (q) is the heat flux and h the enthalpy of the hot (h) and cold (c) Q
sections of the loop. ðw _ Þ is the mass flow rate DT ¼ ð10Þ
_ p
wC

a. Flow rate Eq. (10) is used to determine the various temperature increase
and losses in the circuit while Eq. (11) is to obtain the average
The NC Flow Rate is the flow rate at which entire pressure loses temperature.
in the loop is equal to the buoyancy or elevation pressure drop ðT in þ T out Þ
which serves as the driving force. T av g ¼ ð11Þ
2
X
DPdrive ¼ DPloss : ð3Þ where Q = Power, w _ = mass flow rate, C p = Specific heat capacity of
water. Tout is the maximum temperature reach just before the heat
The driving force for the NC exchanger while Tin is the sub cooled temperature being varied.
I d. Resistance
DPdrive ¼
qðzÞgdz: ð4Þ
X
n X
n
R¼ DP f þ DP l ð12Þ
i i

Eq. (15) is use to determine the total resistance of the system.

b. Pressure drop
d. Heat Transfer
The total pressure drop of natural circulation flow in the
hydraulic loop consists only of the local pressure drop, Pl and the
The quantity of heat, Q t transferred to the working fluid from
frictional pressure drop, P f and which is given by;
Eq. (2) is given by:
DPloss ¼ DPf þ DP l ð5Þ Q t ¼ wðhout
hin Þ ð13Þ
The local pressure drops comprise the pressure drop due to sud- Also Heat flux (q) is determined using Eq. (14);
den contraction at the inlet of eating section, sudden expansion at
the outlet of heating section, four elbows of the closed loop. uUI
q¼ ð14Þ
pDl
 The local pressure drop is thus given by; Heat transfer efficiency, u of the heating section is the ratio of
! heat absorbed by the fluid to the heat generated in the heating
_2
w wall.
DP l ¼ K ð6Þ
2qA2 _ p DT
wC
u¼ ð15Þ
UI
whereK ¼ local pressure drop coefficient.
The local pressure drop coefficient for sudden contraction at the where wis_ mass flow rate. C p is the specific heat. Uis the voltage
inlet of heating section is 0.409 and sudden expansion at the outlet and I is the current. DTis the Changes in Temperature, D the inner
of heating section is 0.5625 determined using equations in author’s diameter of the test section and l is the length of heated section.
previous work (Bello et al., 2020) while local pressure drop coeffi- From dimensional analysis, the correlations for heat transfer rate
cient for all the 90° elbows are considered to be flanged and the are in the form
loss coefficient for a 90° flanged elbow is 0.3 (Pritchard and Nu ¼ u ðRe; Pr; . . . Þ ð16Þ
Mitchell, 2016).
lC p
where Nu = hD
k
is the Nusselt number and Pr ¼ k
= va = is the Prandtl
 The frictional pressure drop is given by; number.
5
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809

The experimental data errors analysis and uncertainties arising

from the various parameters in this investigation has been deter-
mined and tabulated as Table 3.

4. Result and discussion

The thermal hydraulic response in flow streams occurring in

different segments along the hydraulic loop of the single phase
NC experiment carried out based on temperature and heating
power variations at low pressure are presented and discussed in
the following sections.

4.1. Temperature oscillations

Stable temperature oscillations was achieved at the inlet and

maintained at the outlet. The varied inlet temperatures entering
the heated channel are presented in Fig. 5. The trend shows that
the temperatures followed a stable condition at low flux within a
low maximum oscillation of 0.03 aptitudes at the various inlet
temperatures for the period of data recording.
At Tsub = 51.6 °C, shows temperature profile with a surge of
about 0.4 just at the end of recording, the surge in temperature
is as a result of delay in the response time which posed difficulty
in maintaining a sustained temperature using the flow control Fig. 4. Stable Temperature oscillation at the Inlet of the Heating Channel.

valve of the secondary loop at the period of recording thus subject-

ing the experiment to be repeated severally and more time allowed
for stability before collecting data. Fig. 5 represent the outlet tem-
perature behavior with time at the different inlet sub cooled, again
it followed a stable trend.
The results in Figs. 4 and 5 are necessary to ascertain the stabil-
ity of the input and output signals for the analysis of the tempera-
ture distribution in the tubing which enable determination of other
useful parameters and behaviors. The trend represents the flow
stabilization tendency due to the equilibrium achieved in hydraulic
circuit.

4.2. Temperature distribution in the heated channel

The temperature distribution pattern in the channel was deter-

mined by the twenty (20) thermocouples (TCs) attached in dimen-
sioned position along the surface of the heated channel from inlet
to outlet. The wall temperature transferred to the fluid by each
thermocouple is shown Fig. 6. Point 1 is the onset position repre-
senting the inlet of the heater measured by TC1 while point 2 is
between the negative and positive electrode of the heater compris-
ing of 20 measuring points measured by TC2-TC21. These thermo-
couples are located in the above strategic mentioned positions to
directly measure the temperatures distribution in the heated chan-
nel with minimum errors. TC1 and TC22 monitor and determine
the temperature behaviour at the inlet and outlet of the heated Fig. 5. Outlet Temperature Oscillations.
channel as a result of power variation considered in this section
as shown in Fig. 7 which depicts the change in temperature
between the inlet and outlet of the heated channel at different through electrical resistors. From the result, beginning at the
heating power. This result allows for calculating the heat supplied 7000W heating power, average temerature change of 50℃ was
by convection to the fluid (coolant) from the heat dissipation observed with similar change recorded at the 9000W heating
power but then a lower change in temperature was noticed at
the 9900W before a higher temperature change at the 13000W.
Table 3
Experimental data errors and uncertainties.
In addition, the relationship between the inlet and outlet temper-
ature of heating channel also show the amount of heat that can be
Source of Uncertainty Source of Uncertainty transported from the heating channel (core) thru the upriser to the
uncertainty % uncertainty %
condenser based on this experiment at the stated boundary and
Hydraulic diameter 0.14 Pressure 0.25 operating conditions.
Water temperature 0.55 Heat flux 1.98
All the thermocouple shows stable but continuous trend of the
Wall temperature 0.55 Mass flux 048
Current 1.01 Volumetric flow rate 0.20 applied heat in each section of the channel. The values recorded by
Voltage 0.003 the individual TCs portray the amount of heat induced at each

6
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin
Fig. 6. Temperature distribution within the heated sections.
Fig. 7. Curves of the inlets and outlets temperature change.
hydraulic position to indicate the section with the maximum heat
transfer. When the power is further increase or varies the temper-
ature will increase accordingly.
Similar change recorded at the 9000 W Heating Power but then
a lower change in temperature was noticed at the 9900 W before a
higher temperature change at the 13000 W. These results show the
amount of heat that can be transported from the heating channel
(core) thru the upriser to the condenser based on this experiment
at the stated boundary and operating conditions.
4.3. Temperature distribution in the upriser
The temperature distribution trend in the upriser recorded
within the time of observation is shown in Fig. 8 whiles the average
temperature distribution along the axial position of the riser is rep-
resented in Fig. 9.
7
Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809
Fig. 8. Measured upriser temperature distribution.
Several variations at each point in the section exist due to the
various locations of the thermocouples and the heat transfer capa-
bility of the sections. The downward drop in the wall temperature,
Tw at the exit of the heated channel marking the beginning of the
upward riser as measured by TC22 was expected and a further
drop at the top of the riser just before the heat exchanger as mea-
sured by TC23 thermocouple. This phenomenon is attributed to
heat loss to the surrounding.
4.4. Temperature profile in the loop
The trend of Fig. 10, depicts the distribution of the average
induced heat at different axial positions along the Hydraulic Cir-
cuit. Average heated wall temperature increases along the axial
direction at each Tsub = 40, 50, 60 and 80 °C beginning from the
inlet of the heated channel at Point 1, there was a noticeable surge
of the surface temperature as the trend progressed to the Heated
section (point 2 to 21) which depicts heat gradually induced by
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809

4.5. Pressure drops

The dynamic interactions between the heated channel and

compressible volume give rise to pressure drop. The most suscep-
tible sections along the loop with pressure loss as against temper-
ature and power variations are observed and result presented in
Figs. 11 and 12.

Fig. 9. Average temperature trend in the upriser.

the electric heater. This gradual increase in temperature was trans-

ferred to the fluid for onward flow upstream.
Drop in temperature just after the heating section was experi-
enced as the flow travel along the upriser. Further drop was
recorded at Z = 4000 mm which is the last point of the riser and Fig. 11. Pressure Fluctuation with respect to the Heating Power.

almost at top of the loop that maintain same altitude as the inlet
of the condenser. The temperature at exit of the condenser mea-
sured shows the amount of temperature taking out by the heat
sink. Water temperature at this exit point is a few degrees higher
than that at the inlet of heater which is again due to the heat loss
to the surroundings.
Temperature at heating surface close to the exit of the channel
experience small amplitude oscillations for stable flow, the differ-
ence of heating surface temperature oscillations close to the exit of
the heated channel lays in the difference of flow regime and heat
transfer mechanism. Heat is removed from heating surface by liq-
uid film. There isn’t much change in the heat transfer since heating
surface is covered by saturated liquid throughout the oscillation
period.
The curves depicted in Fig. 10 allowed computing of the heat
loss by convection and conduction in the heated channel, riser
and downcomer, the heat exchange between primary and sec-
ondary systems and the absorbed heat by the fluid from the surface
of the experimental loop. Fig. 12. Experimental Pressure Losses on upward Flow.

Fig. 10. Experimental wall temperature distribution across the hydraulic circuit.

8
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin
Fig. 13. Trend of flow rate against average inlet temperature.
The entire system pressure experience a slight drop at 7000 W
to 9000 W heating power and a significant drop when power was
increased to 10000 W before a surge occur at 13000 W as depicted
in Fig. 11. At each increasing heating power, there exist a gradual
pressure drop from the inlet section and the outlet of the heating
channel, and a further drop as the fluid flow upward along the
upriser. These phenomena were replicated at the 9000 W, 10,000
and 13,000 W heating power.
Further investigation was carried out to determine the pressure
drop along the loop, it was noticed that the pressure at the inlet of
the heated section drops as compared with the outlet as can be
seen in Fig. 12 while further drop was maintained along the upriser
just before the entrance of the condenser where further drops will
also be experienced at the exit of cooler. Variations of the input
parameters causes adjustment on the loop pressure
4.6. Effect on flow rate
The inlet flow rate is measured by an electromagnetic flow
meter which is designed to detect both positive and negative flow-
rate. From the findings, the flowrate maintained a positive condi-
tion throughout the whole oscillation period without flow
reversal. The volumetric flow rate with respect to TSub variation
is plotted in Fig. 13. An almost linear trend was observe as the inlet
temperature, Tsub periodically increase from 40 to 80 °C presenting
a slight increments in the flow rate. The plot of the volumetric flow
rate against the changes in temperature along the riser/heated
channel is presented in Fig. 13 above. The trend shows the rate
of flow of the NC loop largely is a function of the temperature Dif-
ference (Toutlet – Tinlet) generated in the heated channel and stea-
dily increase along the upriser of the tubing.
The flow with respect to temperature differences steadily oscil-
late around the NC flowrate till a point where any further increase
in temperature differences due to the increase in heating power
will lead to further density drop of coolant in the hot leg and sub-
sequent increase in the flow rate.
If this increase is maintained over a period of time, the flow rate
will be so large such that there won’t be sufficient time for the fluid
to be heated, and thus sub-cooled fluid enters the riser section and
the buoyancy force reduces. The flow gets decelerated and instabil-
ities set in with possible flow reversal.
5. Conclusions
Experiment was carried out to study of temperature and heat-
ing power variations on flow Phenomena of a Natural Circulation
loop operating under steady state single phase condition at low
9
Annals of Nuclear Energy 151 (2021) 107809
pressure has been conducted and result presented. The following
conclusion can be drawn;
 Maintaining low power provides no phase change and, after a
damped oscillatory initial behavior, a stationary flow regime
is established.
 Pressure drops exist at several upward positions (Z) along the
hydraulic circuit and across the heat exchanger.
 The investigation results shows that as the fluid get heated
upstream along the up riser, it become less dense and facilitate
transfer of heat to the condenser (heat sink).
 Each of the thermocouple placed at specific position along the
hydraulic circuit provided the temperature for analysis though
with minimal error of less than 0.5%.
The research findings aid to determine the density of the heated
fluid based on temperature difference and subsequently, establish
the flow rate of a natural circulation loop. The experiment had a
positive contribution for the acquisition of important information
of natural circulation phenomena necessary for dominants param-
eters in scaling analysis for future designs.
The Natural Circulation System was designed to simulate the
natural circulation behaviors of primary circuit of some advanced
water-cooled reactors and SMRs. In the same vain, RELAP 5 is a sys-
tem code developed to simulate thermal hydraulic behavior of
reactor systems of which the primary circuit which this facility
represents is inclusive; in addition, couples of experimental inves-
tigations have been carried out on this facility whose data has been
used to validate the RELAP5 system code. Examples are (Chen,
2018; Wang, 2018) whose investigations were referenced in this
article. This research provides additional experimental data which
could further be used to validate system code model such as
RELAP5 model of natural circulation system at low pressure
condition.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Solomon Bello: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation,
Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing - original
draft. Puzhen Gao: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Resources,
Project administration. Yuqi Lin: Investigation.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
S. Bello, P. Gao and Y. Lin
Acknowledgment
The author (Solomon Bello) wishes to specially appreciate the
Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for the scholarship award.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107809.
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