Two Phase Flow Behavior During Pool Scrubbing

Author(s):  
Yuki Nakamura ◽  
Kota Fujiwara ◽  
Wataru Kikuchi ◽  
Shimpei Saito ◽  
Tomohisa Yuasa ◽  
...  

In severe accidents of nuclear power plants, large amounts of gas containing radioactive particles are generated. In the process of gas release into the atmosphere, it is needed to suppress the leakage of radioactive material. The gas is decontaminated by moving radioactive particles from the gas phase to the liquid phase. This effect of capturing particles is called pool scrubbing, and it has been verified great decontamination effect. Therefore, it is extremely important to analyze the effect in evaluating the influence to the environment. But study on its principle is not carried out sufficiently. And also we don’t have enough experimental date to analyze the effect. The purpose of this study is to clarify the gas-liquid two-phase flow behavior which is important in elucidating the mechanism of pool scrubbing. Particularly, this study focused on the behavior of bubble generation and breakup after being injected from the nozzle and the flow structure of rising bubbles in the still water. Furthermore, we evaluate the validity of the model used in the existing severe accidents analysis code such as the MELCOR by comparing the model with experimental data. We measure the gas phase jet injected from the upward nozzle inserted to a test water tank. Nozzle diameter, gas phase flow rate, liquid phase temperature, and water depth were used as parameters. Bubble behavior was observed via a high-speed camera. The bubble rising speed, bubble distribution and void fraction were measured by a wire mesh sensor. In previous studies, experiments using non-condensable gas in normal temperature water have been mainly conducted. In order to conduct the experiment under conditions that simulate actual equipment, steam which is a condensable gas was used in this study. Moreover, it is assumed that thermal stratification is formed in the pressure suppression pool during severe accidents. To reproduce this situation, thermal stratification is formed in the test water tank. For bubble behavior and flow phenomenon, the result of using non-condensable gas was compared with that using steam. We consider the influence of formation of a thermal stratification. As described above, the flow phenomenon in the pool scrubbing was visualized and measured. Finally, we discuss the validity of the analysis code by comparing the calculation formula and model in the analysis code with the experiment data.

Author(s):  
Ryotaro Yokoyama ◽  
Jun-ichi Takano ◽  
Hideaki Monji ◽  
Akiko Kaneko ◽  
Yutaka Abe ◽  
...  

Earthquake is one of the most serious phenomena for safety of a nuclear power plant. Therefore, nuclear reactors were contracted considering structural safety for a big earthquake. In a nuclear reactor, the gas-liquid two-phase flow is the one of primary factor of the property and bubbly or plug flow behavior is important issue to evaluate of safety. However, the influence of an earthquake vibration on the gas-liquid two-phase flow inside the nuclear power plant is not understood enough. For example, the bubbly flow behavior under the flow rate fluctuation caused by the earthquake acceleration is not clear. It is necessary to clear the two-phase flow behavior under the earthquake conditions. To develop the prediction technology of two-phase flow dynamics under the earthquake acceleration, the detailed two-phase flow simulation code with an advanced interface tracking method, TPFIT was expanded to the two-phase flow simulation under earthquake accelerating conditions. In the present study, the objective is to clarify the behavior of the gas-liquid two-phase flow under the earthquake conditions. Especially, the bubble behavior in the two-phase flow, a diameter, shape and velocity of bubbles which are expected to be influenced by the oscillation of the earthquake is investigated. In this experiment, the flow was bubbly flow and/or plug flow in a horizontal circular pipe. The working fluids were water and nitrogen gas. The nitrogen gas from gas cylinder was injected into the water through a nozzle and bubbly flow was generated at a mixer. The water was driven by a pump and the flow rate fluctuation was given by a reciprocating piston attached to the main flow loop. Main frequency of earthquakes is generally between 0.5Hz and 10Hz. Thus the frequency of the flow rate fluctuation in the experiment also was taken between 0.5Hz and 10Hz. The behavior of horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flow under the flow rate fluctuation was investigated by image processing using a high-speed video camera and PIV at test section. The pressure sensors were installed at the inlet of the mixer and the outlet of the test section. As the result, the bubble behavior mechanism under the flow rate fluctuation was obtained. In addition, the acceleration of a bubble and the pressure gradient in the pipe was synchronized under all frequency conditions. The prediction results by TPFIT were compared with the experimental results. They show good agreement on the flow field around a bubble and the bubble behavior.


Author(s):  
Lissett Barrios ◽  
Mauricio Gargaglione Prado

Dynamic multiphase flow behavior inside a mixed flow Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) has been studied experimentally and theoretically for the first time. The overall objectives of this study are to determine the flow patterns and bubble behavior inside the ESP and to predict the operational conditions that cause surging. An experimental facility has been designed and constructed to enable flow pattern visualization inside the second stage of a real ESP. Special high speed instrumentation was selected to acquire visual flow dynamics and bubble size measurements inside the impeller channel. Experimental data was acquired utilizing two types of tests (surging test and bubble diameter measurement test) to completely evaluate the pump behavior at different operational conditions. A similarity analysis performed for single-phase flow inside the pump concluded that viscosity effects are negligible compared to the centrifugal field effects for rotational speeds higher than 600 rpm. Therefore, the two-phase flow tests were performed for rotational speeds of 600, 900, 1200, and 1500 rpm. Results showed formation of a large gas pocket at the pump intake during surging conditions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lissett Barrios ◽  
Mauricio Gargaglione Prado

Dynamic multiphase flow behavior inside a mixed flow electrical submersible pump (ESP) has been studied experimentally and theoretically for the first time. The overall objectives of this study are to determine the flow patterns and bubble behavior inside the ESP and to predict the operational conditions that cause surging. An experimental facility has been designed and constructed to enable flow pattern visualization inside the second stage of a real ESP. Special high-speed instrumentation was selected to acquire visual flow dynamics and bubble size measurements inside the impeller channel. Experimental data were acquired utilizing two types of tests (surging test and bubble diameter measurement test) to completely evaluate the pump behavior at different operational conditions. A similarity analysis performed for single-phase flow inside the pump concluded that viscosity effects are negligible compared to the centrifugal field effects for rotational speeds higher than 600 rpm. Therefore, the two-phase flow tests were performed for a rotational speeds of 600, 900, 1200, and 1500 rpm. Results showed formation of a large gas pocket at the pump intake during surging conditions.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru Herescu ◽  
Jeffrey S. Allen

High speed microscopy experiments investigating two-phase (gas-liquid) flow behavior in capillary-scale systems, that is, systems where capillary forces are important relative to gravitational forces, have revealed a unique unsteady annular flow with periodic destabilization of the gas-liquid interface. Standing waves develop on the liquid film and grow into annular lobes similar with those observed in low-speed two-phase flow. The leading face of the lobe will decelerate and suddenly become normal to the wall of the capillary, suggesting the possibility of a shock wave in the gas phase at a downstream location from the minimum gas flow section. Visualization of the naturally occurring convergent-divergent nozzle-like structures as well as a discussion on the possibility of shock wave formation are presented.


Author(s):  
M. J. Pettigrew ◽  
B. Besner ◽  
N. W. Mureithi ◽  
T. Lafrance ◽  
J. M. Patrick

Flow-induced vibration in two-phase flows requires the knowledge of flow regime and detailed flow characteristics. This paper outlines the development of fiber-optic probes to measure void fraction, local flow velocity and characteristic size (i.e., bubble diameter) of the two-phase mixture. The principle of operation of such probes is based on the difference in index of refraction between the liquid phase and the gas phase when in contact with a fiber-optic probe supplied with a laser light. The reflected signal levels for the gas phase and the liquid phase are very different thus providing a reliable measure of void fraction. The paper describes the development of fiber-optic probes for measurements of internal two-phase flow in pipes and of external flow across a tube bundle. The use of double probes allows the measurements of local flow velocity and bubble size. Some detail measurements of flow in the gap between tubes in cross flow are presented. The fabrication of the very small and fragile probes required much development effort. The paper describes the difficulties and the solutions to assure good quality probes. Some data processing and data interpretation issues are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Deqi Chen ◽  
Qinghua Wang ◽  
Zhengang Duan ◽  
Liang-ming Pan

In this paper the study focuses on a visual investigation on the gas-water two-phase flow in a vertical circular narrow channel with 2 mm inner diameter under atmospheric pressure. Experiments were carried out with different working conditions, including different gases as gas-phase working fluids such as nitrogen, air, carbon dioxide and argon, and the gas flow rate, Q, varied between 0 ml/s (single liquid phase flow) to 9.0 ml/s, and the liquid mass flux, G, varied between 581.3 kg/m2s to 3201.8 kg/m2s. The influence of liquid mass flux, gas flow rate as well as Eo number and Mo number (using these two non-dimensional parameters to specify the effect of gas-phase properties) on the fluctuation of pressure drop and mass flux were investigated in this study. It is found that the pressure drop increases along with increasing liquid-phase flow rate with identical other working conditions, and the corresponding flow patterns are slug flow even though the liquid-phase flow rates are different. However, the pressure drop decreases at first and then increases along with gas-phase flow rate, with constant liquid flow rate (liquid mass flux), and the corresponding flow patterns include slug flow, slug-annular flow and annular flow. Based on the experimental result, it is also found that the smaller Eo number and Mo number of the gas-phase working fluid, the smaller the fluctuations of the pressure drop and mass flux would be due to the gas-phase working fluid is different.


Author(s):  
Liping Pang ◽  
Shangmin Li ◽  
Hu Yuan ◽  
Liqiang Duan

Abstract When the supercritical boiler is working at low load during flexible operation, the uneven distribution of the gas-liquid flow at the intermediate header may affect the safety of the water-cooled wall at the vertical parallel panels. In order to improve the uniformity of gas-liquid flow distribution in the water-cooled wall of intermediate header and study the internal flow mechanism, a flute inside the header is applied with parallel vertical parallel channels and experiments under different operating conditions are conducted to verify the effectiveness of this geometrical structure. The flow pattern in the experiment belongs to stratified and wavy flow. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation is conducted in order to investigate two-phase flow distribution behavior inside a flute header. It was found that the radial gas phase distribution in the flute tube shows a symmetrical relationship, and there are two vortexes in opposite directions. With the increasing distance from the inlet, the uniformity of the gas phase distribution becomes even. The gravity is greater than the drag force, which has effect on the two-phase flow distribution. The gas phase velocity has been improved inside flute section and liquid phase flow has more even flow distribution along annular section. It makes liquid phase sent to far end of flute header. That benefits two-phase flow distribution along 10 parallel channels equally.


Author(s):  
Wataru Kikuchi ◽  
Kota Fujiwara ◽  
Yuki Nakamura ◽  
Shimpei Saito ◽  
Tomohisa Yuasa ◽  
...  

In order to decrease the leakage and diffusion of Fission Products (FPs) in a severe accident (SA) of nuclear power plants, BWR have a suppression chamber filled with water to decontaminate the polluted air from the reactor vessel when emergency ventilation is done. It’s called pool scrubbing having a function of decontamination effect that transfer particles from gas to liquid phase by blowing gas containing FP into water. decontamination factor (DF) which is an index of decontamination performance evaluation of pool scrubbing is predicted and calculated by using a flow model in the existing analysis model such as MELCOR code. Evaluation of the DF by pool scrubbing is important in analyzing SA progress of nuclear power plants. For this reason, validation of flow model and decontamination model is important. It is necessary to validate whether the analysis result of each model matches the actual phenomenon. Despite of these needs, generic experimental data on gas-liquid two phase flow including aerosol is insufficient in confirming the validity of existing model. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate aerosol behavior in air jet and its relation to bubbly flow structure during pool scrubbing. This is to obtain the flow structure when air - aerosol released to the pool part and are obtained. Transition behavior of particles from the gas phase into the liquid phase was observed by high-speed camera. In addition, the effect of aerosol on void fraction in the pool was measured by wire mesh sensor from the nozzle exit to the water surface ware also observed. Ejecting air-aerosol from the nozzle to the pool part at various flow rates, visualization of bubble diameter, bubble aspect ratio, void fraction and the gas phase velocity were done by using image processing and a wire-mesh sensor. From these results, we compared the parameters by the presence or absence of aerosol. DF is also compared with the model used in the MELCOR code.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. F. Caetano ◽  
O. Shoham ◽  
J. P. Brill

Mechanistic models have been developed for each of the existing two-phase flow patterns in an annulus, namely bubble flow, dispersed bubble flow, slug flow, and annular flow. These models are based on two-phase flow physical phenomena and incorporate annulus characteristics such as casing and tubing diameters and degree of eccentricity. The models also apply the new predictive means for friction factor and Taylor bubble rise velocity presented in Part I. Given a set of flow conditions, the existing flow pattern in the system can be predicted. The developed models are applied next for predicting the flow behavior, including the average volumetric liquid holdup and the average total pressure gradient for the existing flow pattern. In general, good agreement was observed between the experimental data and model predictions.


2001 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Ishimoto ◽  
Mamoru Oike ◽  
Kenjiro Kamijo

The two-dimensional characteristics of the vapor-liquid two-phase flow of liquid helium in a pipe are numerically investigated to realize the further development and high performance of new cryogenic engineering applications. First, the governing equations of the two-phase flow of liquid helium based on the unsteady thermal nonequilibrium multi-fluid model are presented and several flow characteristics are numerically calculated, taking into account the effect of superfluidity. Based on the numerical results, the two-dimensional structure of the two-phase flow of liquid helium is shown in detail, and it is also found that the phase transition of the normal fluid to the superfluid and the generation of superfluid counterflow against normal fluid flow are conspicuous in the large gas phase volume fraction region where the liquid to gas phase change actively occurs. Furthermore, it is clarified that the mechanism of the He I to He II phase transition caused by the temperature decrease is due to the deprivation of latent heat for vaporization from the liquid phase. According to these theoretical results, the fundamental characteristics of the cryogenic two-phase flow are predicted. The numerical results obtained should contribute to the realization of advanced cryogenic industrial applications.


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