Investigation of the Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics and Erosion Law of Particulate in LBE on the Subchannel

A triangle subchannel model was established to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) alloy and the erosion rate of the core channel by the particulate in LBE. Under different inlet velocities, particle types, particle diameters, and particle concentrations, the erosion law of the channel wall in LEB was investigated by using a discrete phase model (DPM). The results of this study showed that with the increase of inlet velocity, the outlet temperature of the LEB decreases and the heat transfer capacity was strengthened. The increase of inlet velocity will lead to the increase of erosion rate on the wall, and the change is exponential. The erosion rate of particulate in the low concentration is small but cannot be ignored; with increasing concentration of particulates, the erosion of the wall by particulates becomes serious. The effect of particulate density on the wall erosion rate can be ignored. The effect of changing the particle size on the erosion rate is more significant when the particle size is small, and at the same time, the erosion rate of the particles on the wall increases with the increase of the particle size.