KArlsruhe SOdium LAboratory (KASOLA)
|
The KArlsruher SOdium LAboratory KASOLA at INR is a unique experimental research platform for the investigation of sodium thermal-hydraulic flow phenomena in components of prototypical size, the qualification of instrumentation and flow diagnostics in liquid metal, and the validation of numerical calculation methods under steady states, transients and non-nominal operating conditions. It was taken into service July 2024. The facility's key features are: - Sodium temperature range: 150 °C – 450 °C
- Operating Pressure: 4 bar(g) max
- Sodium flow rate max: 150 m3/h
- Large flexible test section area of 6 m x 2 m x 2 m for development and investigation of prototypical sized components
- Instrumentation: Magnetic and Coriolis mass flow measurement, pressure taps, thermocouples
- In-house component design: Cold trap, expansion tank, sodium precipitators, plugging meter
- Total energy balance control |
|
| Isometic View of KASOLA piping |
Scientific work programmes at KASOLA address current research challenges in the fields of nuclear and solar energy:
- Qualification of components (up to prototype size), instrumentation or measurement devices/technologies for liquid sodium applications (e. g. AMR and SFR),
- Investigation of flow phenomena in forced, mixed and free convection modes, and
- Qualification, validation and improvement of turbulent liquid metal heat transfer models in CFD (computational fluid dynamics) as well as reduced order models or system codes.
This encompasses a wide spectrum of heat transfer in components and measurement devices/technologies in sodium-based facilities, including rod bundle thermal hydraulics (for SMR-SFR or AMR), heat exchanger devices, free surface liquid metal targets for accelerator applications and thermal storage tanks. The validation of predictive models that describe the behaviour of thermal-hydraulic systems or local thermal hydraulics under steady states, transients and non-nominal operating conditions enables the development of simulation models and system dynamics concepts, helping to identify optimal and critical operational states.
Figure: KASOLA – Level 0, Level 1 with the 6 m x 2m x 2m test port, prototype of a thermocline thermal storage (from left to right).
The KASOLA facility contributes to the Helmholtz alliance on liquid metal technology (LIMTECH (Æ https://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pNid=2920)) and the Helmholtz Energy Materials Characterization Platform (HEMCP (Æ https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/forschung/oe/ce/nanospectroscopy/projpub/projekte/hemcp_en.html)). LIMTECH was established to support the German Helmholtz centers and universities to bundle their R&D activities on liquid metals for various research fields and applications. HEMCP was founded to respond to the needs of innovative energy systems, which will face much higher temperatures to enhance their efficiency.
Publications
W. Hering, A. Onea, J. Fuchs, T. Schaub, A. Weisenburger, R. Stieglitz, Liquid metal facilities to investigate thermal-hydraulics and materials behavior up sodium boiling, NURETH-19, March 6-11, 2022, Brussels, Belgium, 2022
W. Hering, M. Böttcher, J. Fuchs, A. Onea, S. Ulrich, R. Stieglitz, Materials and systems for liquid metal based CSP 2.0, AIP Conf. Proc. 2303, 050002, 2020
W. Hering, A. Onea, A. Jianu, J. Fuchs, Th. Schaub, A. Weisenburger, S. Ulrich, R. Stieglitz, Facilities to investigate sodium and materials behaviour up to sodium boiling, Proc. ICAPP 2020, paper 20205, March 15-19, 2020, Abu Dhabi, UAE
W. Hering, A. Onea, A. Jianu, J. Reiser, S. Ulrich, R. Stieglitz, Liquid metals, materials and safety measures to progress to CSP 2.0, AIP Conf. proc. 2126, 080002, 2019
A. Onea, M. Lux, W. Hering, R. Stieglitz, Design, optimization and layout of a compact cold trap with high efficient heat recovery by a helical coil for the Karlsruhe Sodium Laboratory, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 113, 1000 - 1011, 2017
A. Onea, W. Hering, M. Lux, R. Stieglitz, Numerical optimization of cold trap designs for the Karlsruhe Sodium Laboratory, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 113, 984 - 999, 2017
A. Onea, W. Hering, W. Jäger, A. Jianu, M. Lux, J. Reiser, S. Scherrer, R. Stieglitz, N. Diez d.l. Rios, Concentrating solar power using liquid sodium as heat transfer fluid, in Proc. of the ASME-ATI-UIT Conf. on Thermal Energy Systems, Naples, Italy, 17-20.05.2015
W. Hering, R. Stieglitz, A. Jianu, M. Lux, A. Onea, S. Scherrer, C. Homann, Scientific program of the Karlsruhe Sodium Laboratory (KASOLA), Int. Conf on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles FR 13, Paper ID IAEA-CN-199/257, Paris, France, 4-7.03.2013
A. Onea, W. Hering, C. Homann, A. Jianu, M. Lux, S. Scherrer, R. Stieglitz, Optimization of the KASOLA high temperature liquid metal loop, Paper ID 545, NURETH 15, Pisa, Italy, 12-16.05.2013