Numerical Study on Heat Leakage, Thermal Stratification, and Self-Pressurization Characteristics in Liquid Helium Storage Tanks

Jing Xu, Fa’an Liu, Jianguo Zhang, Chao Li, Qinghua Liu, Changjun Li, Wenlong Jia (), Shixiong Fu and Longjiang Li
Additional contact information
Jing Xu: China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. North China Company, Renqiu 062552, China
Fa’an Liu: China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. North China Company, Renqiu 062552, China
Jianguo Zhang: China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. North China Company, Renqiu 062552, China
Chao Li: China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. North China Company, Renqiu 062552, China
Qinghua Liu: China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. North China Company, Renqiu 062552, China
Changjun Li: School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Wenlong Jia: School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Shixiong Fu: School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Longjiang Li: School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 24, 1-29

Abstract: During the operation of liquid-phase He-4 (LHe-4) storage tanks, heat leakage changes the thermophysical parameters and phase properties of the LHe-4 in the tanks, resulting in the thermal layering phenomenon. This phenomenon is characterized by the LHe-4 temperature gradient and pressure increase (self-pressurization) phenomena in the tanks. Based on the Layer-by-Layer model, a heat transfer model of a composite adiabatic structure with multilayer insulation and liquid nitrogen screen (LNCS) insulation was established, and the Neumann boundary heat flux of the thermal response model was determined. A numerical simulation model of the thermal response of a liquid helium storage tank was established. The spatial and temporal evolutions of the pressure distribution, natural convection characteristics, thermal stratification characteristics, and self-pressurization characteristics of the LHe-4 tank were investigated. Finally, the self-pressurization thermodynamic model of the LHe-4 storage tank was built based on the isothermal saturation and homogeneous model. It is shown that the predictive performance of the mLee model for the self-boosting characteristics (relative deviation of 14.32%) was significantly improved compared with that of the Lee model (relative deviation of 39.64%). The thermal stratification degree (TSD) of the tank increased with the operation time, with TSDs of 1.023, 1.028, and 1.036 at 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h, which exacerbated the self-pressurization of the tank. The wall surface in contact with the phase interface is a strong evaporation point, so the interfacial mass transfer rate maps show a pattern of high at both ends and low in the middle.

Keywords: helium-4; storage tank; heat leakage; thermal stratification; self-pressurization; numerical study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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