CONJUGATE HEAT-TRANSFER IN AN OPEN-LOOP THERMOSIPHON

This study considers the transient physical phenomena in an open loop thermosyphon, where the wall heat conduction is coupled to the fluid hydrodynamics and heat transfer. Some simplifying assumptions allow a semi-analytical solution in several cases of practical importance. A U-shaped natural circulation loop open to the atmosphere and heated from one side is examined. The present analysis is applied to assess the performance of a natural convection system used for passive cooling of an advanced nuclear reactor containment. The present semi-analytical solution is found to favorably compare with a finite-difference solution of the full governing equations invoking the RELAP5/MOD2 code.