Experimental study of heat transfer enhancement in narrow rectangular channel with longitudinal vortex generators

In order to enhance heat transfer in cooling channels of plate-type fuel elements in reactor cores, the experimental research is conducted on the heat transfer and pressure drop in horizontal narrow rectangular channels with mounted longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) for water flow with Prandtl number Pr = 4–5. The parameters examined were: flow velocity from 0.5 to 3.4 m/s, Reynolds number from 3000 to 20,000, heat flux 43.6 kW/m2, maximum system pressure 1.3 atm, and viscosity ratio from 1.05 to 1.2. It is found that the LVGs could greatly improve the heat transfer rate by 10–45%. Thermal performance is compared under three constraints, i.e., identical mass flow rate (IMF), identical pressure drop (IPD) and identical pumping power (IPP). It is found that the heat transfer performance of channel with LVGs on two sides are better than those on one side. Application of LVGs to plate-type fuel element is a potential technique for next generation advanced nuclear reactors concepts.