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Research Papers

# Experimental and Numerical Study of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Flow Through Valves

[+] Author and Article Information
Haomin Yuan

Department of Engineering Physics,
1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706
e-mail: hyuan8@wisc.edu

Mark Anderson

Department of Engineering Physics,
1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706
e-mail: manderson@engr.wisc.edu

Manuscript received June 8, 2015; final manuscript received January 25, 2016; published online June 17, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Andrey Churkin.

ASME J of Nuclear Rad Sci 2(3), 031004 (Jun 17, 2016) (8 pages) Paper No: NERS-15-1112; doi: 10.1115/1.4032640 History: Received June 08, 2015; Accepted January 25, 2016

## Abstract

The supercritical carbon dioxide ($sCO2$) Brayton cycle shows advantages such as high efficiency, compactness, and low capital cost. These benefits make it a competitive candidate for future-generation power-conversion cycles. In order to study this cycle, valve characteristics under $sCO2$ flow conditions must be studied. However, the traditional models for valves may not be accurate due to the real gas property of $sCO2$. In this study, this problem was studied both experimentally and numerically. A small valve was tested in the authors’ experiment facility first to provide validation data. For this valve, numerical predictions of mass flow rate agree with experimental data. Then, simulations were scaled up to valves in a real power-cycle design. The traditional gas-service valve model fails to predict mass flow rate at low-pressure ratios. A modification was proposed to improve the current gas-service valve model by changing the choked-flow check.

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## References

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## Figures

Fig. 4

Computational domain for test valve geometry (not to scale)

Fig. 5

Comparison of experiment and simulation for test valve

Fig. 3

Dimensions and inner geometry of SS-31RS4 [8]

Fig. 2

Schematic and T–S diagram of sCO2 test facility at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Fig. 6

Mass flow rate of valve from different sources at 50% open

Fig. 1

System and T–S diagram of sCO2 recompression Brayton cycle [3]

Fig. 7

Globe valve and plugs by Flowserve [17]

Fig. 8

Computational domain for globe valve by Flowserve

Fig. 13

Mach number of upstream of 8.5 MPa at 313  kg/m3 and downstream of 7.6 MPa

Fig. 14

Mach number of upstream of 15 MPa at 383  kg/m3 and downstream of 14 MPa

Fig. 12

Globe valve with 50% open with upstream condition of 15 MPa at 383  kg/m3

Fig. 15

Quality of upstream of 8.5 MPa at 313  kg/m3 and downstream of 7.0 MPa

Fig. 16

Quality of upstream of 15 MPa at 383  kg/m3 and downstream of 9.0 MPa

Fig. 9

Tested upstream conditions

Fig. 10

Globe valve with 50% open with upstream condition of 7.7 MPa at 498  kg/m3

Fig. 11

Globe valve with 50% open with upstream condition of 8.5 MPa at 313  kg/m3

## Errata

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