Dirk Lucas

Evolution of the two-phase flow in a vertical tube: decomposition of gas fraction profiles according to bubble size classes using wire-mesh sensors

The wire-mesh sensor developed by the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf produces sequences of instantaneous gas fraction distributions in a cross section with a time resolution of 1200 frames per second and a spatial resolution of about 2–3 mm. At moderate flow velocities (up to 1–2 m·s−1), bubble size distributions can be obtained, since each individual bubble is mapped in several successive distributions. The method was used to study the evolution of the bubble size distribution in a vertical two-phase flow. For this purpose, the sensor was placed downstream of an air injector, the distance between air injection and sensor was varied. The bubble identification algorithm allows to select bubbles of a given range of the effective diameter and to calculate partial gas fraction profiles for this diameter range. In this way, the different behaviour of small and large bubbles in respect to the action of the lift force was observed in a mixture of small and large bubbles.

Influence of the pipe diameter on the structure of the gas-liquid interface in a vertical two-phase pipe flow

Abstract Air-water two-phase flow tests in a large vertical pipe of 194.1-mm inner diameter (i.d.) are reported. Close to the outlet of a 9-m-tall test section, two wire-mesh sensors are installed that deliver instantaneous void fraction distributions over the entire cross section with a resolution of 3 mm and 2500 Hz used for fast-flow visualization. Void fraction profiles, gas velocity profiles, and bubble-size distributions were obtained. A comparison to a small pipe of 52.3-mm i.d. (DN50) revealed significant scaling effects. Here, the increase of the airflow rate leads to a transition from bubbly via slug to churn-turbulent flow. This is accompanied by an appearance of a second peak in the bubble-size distribution. A similar behavior was found in the large pipe; though the large bubbles have a significantly larger diameter at identical superficial velocities, the peak is less high but wider. These bubbles move more freely in the large pipe and show more deformations. The shapes of such large bubbles were characterized in three dimensions. They can be rather complicated and far from ideal Taylor bubbles. Also, the small bubble fraction tends to bigger sizes in the large pipe.

Prediction of radial gas profiles in vertical pipe flow on the basis of bubble size distribution

A method for the prediction of the radial gas profile for a given bubble size distribution is presented. It is based on the assumption of the equilibrium of the forces acting on a bubble perpendicularly to the flow direction. These forces strongly depend on the bubble size [14, 18]. For the simulation of transient flow regime effects, the modelling of several bubble classes in a 1D model and consideration of their radial profiles seems to be more promising than a detailed 3D modelling. The radial profile of the liquid velocity is calculated by the model of Sato [21, 22]. On the basis of this velocity profile, radial distributions are calculated separately for all bubble classes according to the given bubble size distribution. The sum of these distributions is the radial profile of the gas fraction. It is used in an iteration process to calculate a new velocity profile. There is a strong interaction between the profiles of liquid velocity and gas volume fraction. The model is the basis of a fast running one-dimensional steady state computer code. The results are compared with experimental data obtained for a number of gas and liquid volume flow rates. There is a good agreement between experimental and calculated data. In particular, the change from wall peaking to centre peaking gas fraction distribution is well predicted.

Effect of an Electromagnetic Brake on the Turbulent Melt Flow in a Continuous-Casting Mold

This article presents numerical and experimental investigations with respect to the fluid flow in the continuous-casting process under the influence of an external direct current (DC) magnetic field. Numerical calculations were performed by means of the software package CFX (Ansys, Inc., Canonsburg, PA) with an implemented Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS)-SST turbulence model. The nonisotropic nature of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence was taken into account by specific modifications of the turbulence model. The numerical results were validated by flow measurements carried out in a small-scale mockup using the eutectic alloy GaInSn. The jet flow discharging from the submerged entry nozzle was exposed to a level magnetic field spanning across the entire wide side of the mold. The comparison between our numerical calculations and the experimental results displays a good agreement; in particular, we reconstructed the peculiar phenomenon of an excitation of nonsteady, nonisotropic, large-scale flow perturbations caused by the application of the DC magnetic field. Another important result of our study is the feature that the electrical boundary conditions, namely the wall conductivity ratio, have a serious influence on the mold flow while it is exposed to an external magnetic field.

Planar Array Sensor for High-speed Component Distribution Imaging in Fluid Flow Applications

A novel planar array sensor based on electrical conductivity measurements is presented which may be applied to visualize surface fluid distributions. The sensor is manufactured using printed-circuit board fabrication technology and comprises of 64 × 64 interdigital sensing structures. An associated electronics measures the electrical conductivity of the fluid over each individual sensing structure in a multiplexed manner by applying a bipolar excitation voltage and by measuring the electrical current flowing from a driver electrode to a sensing electrode. After interrogating all sensing structures, a two-dimensional image of the conductivity distribution over a surface is obtained which in turn represents fluid distributions over sensors surface. The employed electronics can acquire up to 2500 frames per second thus being able to monitor fast transient phenomena. The system has been evaluated regarding measurement accuracy and depth sensitivity. Furthermore, the application of the sensor in the investigation of two different flow applications is presented.

Correlation for countercurrent flow limitation in a PWR hot leg

Numerical simulations were done to evaluate countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL) characteristics in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) hot leg with the diameter of 750 mm by using a volume of fluid (VOF) method implemented in the CFD software, FLUENT6.3.26. The calculated CCFL characteristics agreed well with known values including the UPTF data at 1.5 MPa. Sensitivity analyses for system pressures up to 8 MPa showed that the calculated CCFL characteristics in the Wallis diagram were slightly mitigated from 0.1 MPa to 1.5 MPa with increasing system pressure, but they did not change from 1.5 MPa to 8MPa. Using the CCFLs calculated in this study and values measured under air–water and steam–water conditions, a CCFL correlation and its uncertainty were derived.

Image-Processing-Based Study of the Interfacial Behavior of the Countercurrent Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in a Hot Leg of a PWR

The interfacial behavior during countercurrent two-phase flow of air-water and steam-water in a model of a PWR hot leg was studied quantitatively using digital image processing of a subsequent recorded video images of the experimental series obtained from the TOPFLOW facility, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR), Dresden, Germany. The developed image processing technique provides the transient data of water level inside the hot leg channel up to flooding condition. In this technique, the filters such as median and Gaussian were used to eliminate the drops and the bubbles from the interface and the wall of the test section. A Statistical treatment (average, standard deviation, and probability distribution function (PDF)) of the obtained water level data was carried out also to identify the flow behaviors. The obtained data are characterized by a high resolution in space and time, which makes them suitable for the development and validation of CFD-grade closure models, for example, for two-fluid model. This information is essential also for the development of mechanistic modeling on the relating phenomenon. It was clarified that the local water level at the crest of the hydraulic jump is strongly affected by the liquid properties.

Comparison of Countercurrent Flow Limitation Experiments Performed in Two Different Models of the Hot Leg of a Pressurized Water Reactor With Rectangular Cross Section

In order to investigate the two-phase flow behavior during countercurrent flow limitation in the hot leg of a pressurized water reactor, two test models were built: one at the Kobe University and the other at the TOPFLOW test facility of Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD). Both test facilities are devoted to optical measurement techniques; therefore, a flat hot leg test section design was chosen. Countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL) experiments were performed, simulating the reflux condenser cooling mode appearing in some accident scenarios. The fluids used were air and water, both at room temperature. The pressure conditions were varied from atmospheric at Kobe to 3.0 bars absolute at TOPFLOW. According to the presented review of literature, very few data are available on flooding in channels with a rectangular cross section, and no experiments were performed in the past in such flat models of a hot leg. Commonly the macroscopic effects of CCFL are represented in a flooding diagram, where the gas flow rate is plotted versus the discharge water flow rate, using the nondimensional superficial velocity (also known as Wallis parameter) as coordinates. However the classical definition of the Wallis parameter contains the pipe diameter as characteristic length. In order to be able to perform comparisons with pipe experiments and to extrapolate to the power plant scale, the appropriate characteristic length should be determined. A detailed comparison of the test facilities operated at the Kobe University and at FZD is presented. With respect to the CCFL behavior, it is shown that the essential parts of the two hot leg test sections are very similar. This geometrical analogy allows us to perform meaningful comparisons. However, clear differences in the dimensions of the cross section (H × W = 150 × 10 mm 2 in Kobe, 250 × 50 mm 2 at FZD) make it possible to point out the right characteristic length for hot leg models with rectangular cross sections. The hydraulic diameter, the channel height, and the Laplace critical wavelength (leading to the Kutateladze number) were tested. A comparison of our own results with similar experimental data and empirical correlations for pipes available in literature shows that the channel height is the characteristic length to be used in the Wallis parameter for channels with rectangular cross sections. However, some limitations were noticed for narrow channels, where CCFL is reached at lower gas fluxes, as already observed in small scale hot legs with pipe cross sections.

CFD Simulation of Polydispersed Bubbly Two-Phase Flow around an Obstacle

This paper concerns the model of a polydispersed bubble population in the frame of an ensemble averaged two-phase flow formulation. The ability of the moment density approach to represent bubble population size distribution within a multi-dimensional CFD code based on the two-fluid model is studied. Two different methods describing the polydispersion are presented: (i) a moment density method, developed at IRSN, to model the bubble size distribution function and (ii) a population balance method considering several different velocity fields of the gaseous phase. The first method is implemented in the Neptune_CFD code, whereas the second method is implemented in the CFD code ANSYS/CFX. Both methods consider coalescence and breakup phenomena and momentum interphase transfers related to drag and lift forces. Air-water bubbly flows in a vertical pipe with obstacle of the TOPFLOW experiments series performed at FZD are then used as simulations test cases. The numerical results, obtained with Neptune_CFD and with ANSYS/CFX, allow attesting the validity of the approaches. Perspectives concerning the improvement of the models, their validation, as well as the extension of their applicability range are discussed.

Main results of the European project NURESIM on the CFD-modelling of two-phase Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS)

Abstract The European Platform for NUclear REactor SIMulations, (NURESIM project 2005 – 2008) addressed the creation of a Common European Standard Software Platform for modelling, recording, and recovering computer data for nuclear reactors simulations. One work package of the project was dedicated to the analysis and improvement of CFD capabilities for the simulation of two-phase PTS problems. Some SB-LOCA scenarios lead to a situation in which the cold leg is partially or totally uncovered when the Emergency Core Cooling injection is activated. The resulting complex two phase flow can be divided in characteristic flow regions: the jet flow with a free surface between steam and water, the zone of jet impingement, the horizontal two-phase flow and the flow in the downcomer. Many phenomena have to be reflected in a simulation of each separate region, but also when the simulations are coupled reflecting the integral process which is required to predict the thermal loads at the RPV wall. After analyzing the experimental database available for CFD model development and validation and identifying shortcomings of the models different activities were dedicated to the simulation of single flow regions as well as the integral flow. Based on these experiences recommendations for the CFD-simulation of the two-phase PTS problem were obtained.