Parametric sensitivity analysis of liquid metal helical coil once-through tube steam generator

Lead-bismuth Fast Reactor (LFR) has attracted attentions due to its intrinsic characteristics, such as sustainability, safety, and economics. Helical coil once-through tube steam generator (HCOTSG) is a proposed form of steam generator. Due to its unique advantages, HCOTSG is widely used in various reactor power systems, including LMFR. In this paper, FLUENT CFD commercial code is adopted to simulate heat transfer from the primary side (liquid metal) and secondary side (water/steam). The robustness of the method is validated by comparing it with relevant experimental research, and the maximum error is less than 25%. Based on this method, 9 models with different geometrical parameters were established to analyze the effects of geometrical parameters on the performance of liquid metal HCOTSG. The wall heat flux and comprehensive performance factor (En) of different models is compared. The optimal geometric arrangement scheme for the working conditions is recommended. The geometrical parameters of the tube side and shell side are analyzed as sensitivity parameters. Among the established geometric models, the HCOTSG has the best comprehensive performance when P_r /D is 0.167 and P_a /D is 0.137 under the working conditions in this paper. This study provides a numerical simulation method on structural design optimization of liquid metal HCOTSG.