Experimental investigation on flow and heat transfer characteristics of helium in rectangular narrow slit channel

Helium is utilized as coolant in high temperature gas cooled reactors. Rectangular narrow slit channels are commonly present in the core. The flow and heat transfer properties of helium significantly affect the core temperature and flow distribution. This paper experimentally investigates the flow and heat transfer properties of high temperature helium in rectangular narrow slit channel. The Reynolds numbers ranged from 468 to 9357, the temperature ratio of wall to bulk from 0.91 to 1.22, the helium outlet temperature up to 945 K, and the maximum heat flux density up to 0.101 MW/m². In the experiment, the total and local convective heat transfer coefficients, along with the friction factors, are measured. Correlation equations for the Nusselt number and friction factor with respect to Reynolds number are derived. The primary findings are as below: the friction factors of helium in rectangular narrow slit channels are significantly larger than those calculated by current empirical correlations. In the turbulent zone, the measured local Nusselt numbers are in excellent accordance with the Gnielinski correlation; however, a significant discrepancy exists in the laminar zone. New flow heat transfer correlation equations are proposed on the bases of experimental data. Upon comparison, the total Nusselt numbers fall in the error of 10 %, and almost all local Nusselt numbers and the friction factors fall in the error of 20 %.