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--<TO-DETERMINE>-->

The Proposal is Satisfactory or not?

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<!--<ANSWER>-->

The Proposal is not Satisfactory.

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<!--<EXPLANATION>-->

Given:

The diameter of the Thorium fuel rod is D  25 mm

The volumetric heat generation is q  7  10 W m
8 3

The air temperature is T  368 K .

The convection heat transfer coefficient is h  7000 W m  K .
2

Formula used:

The temperature distribution for the cylinder section is given as,

 o2   r 2  
qr
T  r  1      Ti
4k   ro 2  

Here, k is the thermal conductivity and Ti is the temperature of the surface.

The expression for energy balance is given as,

E in  E out
q   r 2 L   2 ro hL  T2  T 

Calculation:

The temperature at the outer surface can be calculated as,

 o2   r 2  
qr
T  r  1      Ti
4k   ro 2  

T  TDo
Apply boundary condition r 0 to the above expression,
 2   02
qr 
TDo  o 1   2    Ti
4k   ro 
 o2
qr
  Ti
4k ……(1)

T2 can be calculated as,

The temperature
E in  E out
q   r 2 L   2 ro hL  T2  T 
qr
o
T2  T 
2h ……(2)

Substitute all the values in equation (2),

qr

T2  T  o
2h
 7  108 W m3   0.0125 m  
 368 K +  

 2   7000 W m 2 -K  

 993 K

Substitute the above value in equation (1),

 o2
qr
TDo   Ti
4k
7  108 W m3   0.0125 m 
2

  993 K
4   60 W m-K 
= 1448.73 K

The melting point of aluminium is 933 K and the melting point of the Thorium is
2023 K

The value of T2  993 K is greater than the melting point of the aluminium. The
aluminium will melt. Therefore, proposed operating conditions are not satisfactory.

Conclusion:

The Proposal is not Satisfactory.

<!--</EXPLANATION>-->