General Electric Direct-Air-Cycle Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program: Aerothermodynamics (Comprehensive Technical Report)

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This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency Thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

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Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document.

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This report was prepared as an account of Government sponsored work. Neither the United States, nor the Commission, nor the Aiir Force, nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission or the Air Force: A. Makes any warranty or representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report, or that the use of any information, apparatus, method or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privately owned rights; or B. Assumes any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report. As used in the above "person acting on behalf of the Commission or Air Force'* includes any employee or contractor of the Commission or Air Force to the extent that such employee or contractor prepares, handles, or distributes, or provides access to, any information pursuant to his employment or contract with the Commission or \ir Force. This is one of twenty-one volumes summarizing the General program. Additional copies are available from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Technical Information Extension, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The APEX number and title of each volume in the series is shown in the following list. APEX-901 Program Summary and References APEX-903 Reactor Core Test Facility APEX-904 Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment No. 1 APEX-90.S Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment No. 2 APEX-906 Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment No. 3 APEX-909 Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Systems Studies APEX-911 Remote Handling Equipment APEX-912 Controls and Instrumentation APEX-913 Metallic Fuel Element Materials APEX-914 Ceramic Reactor Materials APEX-917 Organic, Structural and Control Materials APEX-918 Reactor and Shield Physics

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This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. Neither the United States nor the United States Atomic Energy Commission, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

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Lt. Col. Stanley Valcik (2) DTIE (14) plus reproducible master Oak Ridge, Tennessee '

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This is one of twenty-one volumes summarizing the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program of the General Electric Company. This volume summarizes the methods and techniques developed for use in the thermal design of nuclear reactors associated with that program. Information and references are given on the analytical and experimental work required to design and evaluate the proposed high performance air cooled fuel elements. Methods of optimizing the thermal designs, particularly by the use of high speed electronic digital computing equipment, are discussed. The computer programs developed to provide accurate performance predictions, are identified and described. Details of the computing programs may be found in the referenced material. Means for matching the coolant-flow to the predicted internal heat generation rates in the non-fueled components are discussed. Test methods and results are indicated and significant equipment and instrumentation information p r o - The relationships of reactor pressure losses and of localized perturbances to power plant performance are indicated, and the detailed analyses which were required to identify and predict these effects are discussed. Acknowledgement is made of the contribution of Paul E.

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In mid-1951, the General Electric Company, under contract to the United States Atomic Energy Commission and the United States Air Force, undertook the early development of a militarily useful nuclear propulsion system for aircraft of unlimited range. This r e - search and development challenge to meet the stringent requirements of aircraft applications was unique.New reactor and power-plant designs,new materials, and new fabrication and testing techniques were required in fields of technology that were, and still are, advancing very rapidly. The scope of the program encompassed simultaneous advancement in reactor, shield, controls, turbomachinery, remote handling, and related nuclear and The power-plant design concept selected for development by the General Electric Company was the direct air cycle turbojet. Air is the only working fluid in this type of system. The reactor receives air from the jet engine compressor, heats it directly, and delivers it to the turbine. The high-temperature air then generates the forward thrust as it exhausts through the engine nozzle. The direct air cycle concept was selected on the basis of studies indicating that it would provide a relatively simple, dependable, and serviceable power plant with high-performance potential. The decision to proceed with the nuclear-powered-flight program was based on the 1951 recommendations of the NEPA (Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft) project. Conducted by the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation under contract to the USAF, the five-year NEPA project was a study and research effort culminating in the proposal for active development of nuclear propulsion for manned aircraft. In the ensuing ten years. General Electric's Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Department carried on the direct air cycle development until notification by the USAF and USAEC, early in 1961, of the cancellation of the national ANP program. The principal results of the ten-year effort are described in this and other volumes listed inside the front cover of the Comprehensive Technical Report of the General Electric Direct Air Cycle-Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program. Although the GE-ANPD effort was devotedprimarily to achieving nuclear aircraft powerbutions were made to all aspects of gas-cooled reactor technology and other promising nuclear propulsion systems (described mainly in APEX-910 through APEX-921). The Program Summary (APEX-901) presents a detailed description of the historical, programmatic, and technical background of the ten years covered by the program. A graphic summary of these events is shown on the next page. Each portion of the Comprehensive Report, through extensive annotation and referencing of a large body of technical information, now makes accessible significant technical data, analyses, and descriptions generated by GE-ANPD. The references are grouped by subject and the complete reference list is contained in the Program Summary, APEX-901. This listing should facilitate rapid access by a researcher to specific interest areas or

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ANP Flight Program Reoriented to Research Te if bed " Power Plant Starts on Nuclear HTRE No 2 - Test Summary of events — General Electric Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program* ^Detailed history ond chronology is provided in Program Summary APEX-902 Chronology informotien extraeted from: Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program hearing before the Subcommittee on Research and Development of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 86th Congress of The United States, First Session, July 23, 1959, United States GovermiMnt Printing Office, Woshington 1959

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sources of data. Each portion of the Comprehensive Report discusses an aspect of the P r o - g r a m not covered in other portions. Therefore, details of power plants can be found in the power-plant volumes and details of the technologies used in the power plants can be found in the other volumes. The referenced documents and reports,as well as other GE-ANPD technical information not covered by the Comprehensive Report, a r e available through the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Technical Information Extension, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Report is directed to Engineering Management and assumes that the reader is generally familiar with basic reactor and turbojet engine principles; has atechnical understanding of the related disciplines and technologies necessary for their development and design; and, particularly in APEX-910 through APEX-921, has an understanding of the related computer and computative techniques. The achievements of General Electric ' s Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program were the result of the efforts of many officers, managers, scientists, technicians, and administrative personnel in both government and industry. Most of them must remain anonymous, but particular mention should be made of Generals Donald J . Keirn and Irving L. Branch of the Joint USAF-USAEC Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Office (ANPO) and their staffs; M e s s r s . Edmund M. Velten, Harry H. Gorman, and John L. Wilson of the USAF-USAEC Operations Office and their staffs; and Mess rs. D. Roy Shoults, Samuel J . Levine, and This Comprehensive Technical Report represents the efforts of the USAEC, USAF, and GE-ANPD managers, writers, authors, reviewers, and editors working within the Nuclear Materials and Propulsion Operation (formerly the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Department). The local representatives of the AEC-USAF team, the Lockland Aircraft Reactors Operations Office (LAROO), gave valuable guidance during manuscript preparation, and special appreciation is accorded J . L. Wilson, Manager, LAROO, and members of his staff. In addition to the authors listed in each volume, some of those in the General Electric Company who made significant contributions were: W. H. Long, Manager, Nuclear Maand production staffs. Their time and energy a r e gratefully acknowledged. THE EDITORIAL BOARD: James I. Truss ell

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1. Introduction and Summary 11 2. Aerothermodynamic Computer Programs 15 2. 2 Heated Annuli and Ansector Programs 15 2. 3 Reactor-Core Transient Temperature Program 17 2. 4 Transient Heat Transfer Program 18 2. 5 Isothermal 90-Degree Folded Flow Program 19 2. 7 Compressible Flow Network Program 20 2. 9 General Flow Passage Program 21 3. Analytical and Experimental Component Investigation 23 3. 1 Fuel Element Configurations 23 3. 1. 2 Pebble Bed Matrices 25 3. 1. 6 Screen and Screen Matrices 31 3. 1. 7 Cylindrical Coolant- Flow Channels 33 3. 2. 2 Fuel Element Sizii^ Techniques 37 3. 2. 3 Fuel Element Temperature Perturbations 43 3. 2. 5 Control Rod Cooling 44 3. 2. 6 Air-Cooled Aft Retainer Assembly 45 3. 4 Reactor Coolant Flow Distribution 72 3. 4. 2 Scale Model Tests of Flow Distribution 72 4. 1 Temperature Measuring Devices 103 4. 2 Flow Measuring Devices 105 5. Miscellaneous Supplementary Investigation 107 5. 1 Analytical Studies with General Applicability to Reactor 5. 2 Experimental Studies with General Applicability to Reactor

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3. 1 - Typical parallel plate fuel element configuration 24 3. 2 - Typical concentric r i r ^ fuel assembly (A-2) 27 3. 3 - Shaped wire fuel element test specimen 30 3. 4 - Corrugated concentric ring fuel element 31 3. 5 - Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of brazed wire screen 3. 6 - Weight flow distribution radially in core for various r e a r plugs 36 3. 7 - Weight flow distribution D in tube bundle, configuration 0213, front plug horizontal, r e a r plug horizontal, with extension fins - Complete model including swirl and simulated "choke" plates 38 3. 8 - Inlet total pressure profiles for various entrance conditions 39 3. 9 - Inlet total pressure profiles for various entrance conditions 40 location similar to that of tube A 35 - with nose and fin inserts 41 location similar to that of tube A 35 - without nose and fin inserts 42 3. 12 - XNJ140E-1 aft retainer assembly test model 46 3. 13 - Correlation of heat transfer data for tubes of XNJ140E-1 aft retainer 3. 14 - Correlation of heat transfer data for side plates of the XNJ140E-1 aft retainer assembly 48 3. 15 - Schematic diagram of XMA-IA side shield flow model 52 3. 16 - P r e s s u r e loss versus weight flow in XMA-IA side shield flow model 53 3. 17 - Individual channel flow rates versus total flow rate 54 3. 18 - Schematic diagram of airflow circuit 57 3. 19 - Sketch of complete 1/4-scale scroll-shield-tube bundle mockup for experimental aerodynamic performance investigation 58 3. 20 - Flow mockup of XNJ140E-1 primary duct passage 59 3. 21 - Horizontal section through front porous plug - View from top. 1/4-scale 3. 23 - Variation of wall pressure within serpentine duct 64 3. 24 - Front serpentine duct - gage total pressure profiles 65 3. 25 - Rear serpentine duct - gage total pressure profiles 66 3. 26 - Sketch of front end of XMA-1 power plant - quarter - scale model 67 3. 27 - Full scale front plug with " s t r u t " diffuser, XMA-IA power plant 69 3. 28 - Full scale front plug "wide angle" diffuser, XMA-IA power plant 70 3. 29 - Rod and tube sheet model schematic 71 3. 30 - Diagram of the complete duct system - Test configuration 4 73 3. 31 - Flow system schematics 75 3. 32 - Summary of test configurations 77 3. 33 - Sketch of front header face geometry 78

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3. 34 - Sketch of model configuration for tests of various front and rear 3. 35 - Front view of the front plug inlet s c r o l l 80 3. 36 - Sketch of front face of 216 tube core simulator a s used in tests 81 3. 37 - Weight flow distribution radially in core for various front header s h a p e s . . 82 3. 38 - Weight flow distribution "D" in core for complete model configuration 3. 39 - Mass velocity ratio distribution test with a strut-type front shield plug in final version of XMA-IA quarter - scale model 85 3. 40 - Mass velocity ratio distribution with a simulated front shield bypass valve failure in final version of XMA-IA quarter - scale model 86 3. 41 - Mass velocity ratio distribution with a simulated single engine operation in final version of XMA-IA quarter - scale model 87 3. 42 - Typical weight flow ratio (local to average) distribution over core face in reversed primary cycle airflow circuit configuration 88 3. 43 - Variation of the average flow in a hexagonal row with core radius 89 3. 44 - Typical weight flow ratio (local to average) distribution over core face single-vaned reversed primary cycle air circuit configuration 90 3. 45 - Variation of the average flow in a hexagonal row with core radius for the 3. 46 - Typical weight flow ratio (local to average) distribution over core face in no-vaned reversed primary cycle air circuit configuration 92 3. 47 - Variation of the average flow in a hexagonal row with core radius for 3. 48 - Front face of core simulator used in XNJ140E-1 cold flow tests 93 3. 49 - Rear face of core simulator used in XNJ140E-1 cold flow tests 94 3. 50 …