Measurements of local two-phase flow parameters in fuel bundle under BWR operating conditionsShow others and affiliations
2018 (English)In: Nuclear Engineering and Design, ISSN 0029-5493, E-ISSN 1872-759X, Vol. 336, p. 15-23Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The Westinghouse FRIGG facility, in Vasteras/Sweden, is dedicated to the measurement of critical power, stability and pressure drop in fuel rod bundles under BWR operating conditions (steady-state and transient). The facility is particularly relevant to test modern BWR fuel designs which typically have complex features, such as part-length rods and mixing vanes that make the flow heterogeneous and challenging to accurately simulate (e.g. using sub-channel analysis codes or CFD tools). In order to support the validation of advanced thermal-hydraulics codes for detailed BWR fuel assembly simulation, new local instrumentation techniques have been tested at the FRIGG facility for the measurement of two-phase dynamic pressure (Pitot tubes) and high time resolution phase detection (optical sensor). The optical sensors were custom-made by RBI Instrumentation for the FRIGG facility and optimized for annular two-phase flow (drop/steam) under BWR operating conditions. This new instrumentation was successfully tested and allows the first-time measurement, under BWR operating conditions, of relevant two-phase flow parameters such as the local void fraction in the steam core, the local drop/steam velocity, the volumetric interfacial area, the drop collision frequency and the assessment of drop size distribution during BWR steady-state and transient operations.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2018. Vol. 336, p. 15-23
Keywords [en]
Annular two-phase flow, BWR, Instrumentation, Rod bundle, Void fraction
National Category
Physical Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-232587DOI: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.04.033ISI: 000438393700003Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85018899518OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-232587DiVA, id: diva2:1236088
Conference
Specialists Workshop on Advanced Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques for Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics (SWINTH), JUN, 2016, Livorno, Italy
Note
QC 20180731
2018-07-312018-07-312022-06-26Bibliographically approved