SUMMARY

The performance of two printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHE) specimens will be evaluated under prototypic conditions. The evaluation includes both structural and thermohydraulic performance. An experimental facility was constructed to test PCHEs using helium and supercritical CO2 at temperatures and pressures of up to 550 [C] and 20 [MPa]. In this work we quantify the thermohydraulic performance by measuring pressure drops and temperature distribution at several locations, while varying the operating conditions. The variation of the operating conditions will be chosen based on known transient (accident) scenarios in nuclear reactors. In addition, we will measure strains during operation, either by using high temperature strain gauges or digital image correlation, to use as validation data for numerical models.