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Faculty
and Student Teams Program
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Project Descriptions
Oak
Ridge
National Laboratory
Nuclear Science and Technology Division
Design of an Experiment to Examine Molten Salts as a Heat Transfer
Medium
Requesting applications from science or engineering faculty members
at institutions serving students underrepresented in science, engineering,
mathematics and technology to work on the following projects at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL).
Project Description
Molten salts have a low vapor pressure at high temperatures. These salts
have heat transfer characteristics similar to water at much lower pressures,
and may serve as the next generation heat transfer medium. Salts have
been proposed as coolants for advanced reactor concepts, and as a heat
transfer medium for thermal transport at very high temperatures. The
proposed project is aimed at developing a simple experiment aimed at
studying the behavior of specific salts that can be used to perform corrosion
and heat transfer studies as well as developing instrumentation techniques.
Participants will be asked to assist in the design of an experiment investigating
molten salts as a heat transfer medium. A small experiment has been conceptualized
that will allow corrosion testing and heat transfer measurements of a
high temperature (700o C – 900o C) molten salt. The experiment
design uses a furnace to heat a pool of molten salt enclosed in a graphite
crucible. The molten salt must be covered by a high purity inert gas,
so the crucible must form a portion of a sealed container holding the
molten salt. The faculty/student team will be asked to design the crucible-furnace
combination so that the pool is uniformly heated and remains essentially
stagnant. The design of the crucible will be such that a transparent
port can be used to visually examine the pool and perform spectroscopy
on the pool. Temperature limits of this port will require that it be
isolated conductively from the crucible, while still acting as a positive
part of the enclosure. Additionally, a heated finger to be inserted in
the pool will constructed out of a material of interest to perform the
corrosion and heat transfer testing. Once the crucible is designed, analysis
must be performed examining the natural circulation flow of molten salt
around this submerged heated finger. Participants will be asked to use a variety of techniques to execute
this study. These may range from hand calculations to performing thermal
calculations using sophisticated thermal/fluid analysis tools such
as ANSYS, CFX, and FLUENT.
Laboratory Contact: Graydon L. Yoder, Jr. Ph: (865) 945-3660
e-mail:yodergljr@ornl.gov
Applicants’ Responsibilities and Relationship to Project
Applicants will receive support under the Department of Energy Faculty
Student Team Research Program (FaST) to work collaboratively with the
project research team at the Laboratory for up to 10 weeks during the
summer of 2008. The exact appointment period in the time frame of June
to August will be scheduled by mutual agreement between the host divisions
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the successful applicant. Faculty
will be expected to identify students from their campuses to participate
in the FaST program. The faculty member will provide some mentorship
to students during the summer research activities. The faculty and students
must participate as a group and serve their appointments concurrently.
It is expected that the faculty member and the students become an integral
part of the research team working on this project and that opportunities
for continued collaboration may be identified.
Qualifications of Ideal Candidate
Faculty should have a proven research record in the thermal/fluid sciences.
Students should have a background in the same and an interest in performing
thermal analysis to develop experimental designs.
Support and Financial Commitments
The successful candidate will receive a stipend based on the academic
salary, travel expenses to and from the Laboratory, and a housing allowance.
Students recommended by the faculty member for participation in the program
will receive a stipend of $400/week for each week at the Laboratory,
plus a housing allowance, and reimbursement for transportation expenses
to and from the ORNL. Funds are provided for this program from the US
Department of Energy, Office of Science in partnership with the National
Science Foundation, from ORNL, and from other sources.
See Financial Information.
For information on the appointment process,
contact: |
Ebony
Vauss
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
E-mail: ebony.vauss@orau.org
(865) 576-3426
OR
Terry Howard
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
E-mail: terry.howard@orau.org
(865) 241-6395
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