Horst-Michael Prasser

A new electrode-mesh tomograph for gas–liquid flows

Abstract The paper presents an electrode-mesh tomograph for the high-speed visualisation of transient gas fraction distributions in two-phase flows in pipes. It is based on the measurement of the local instantaneous conductivity of the two-phase mixture. The time resolution of the device is 1024 frames per second. The sensor consists of two electrode grids with 16 electrodes each. This results in 16×16 sensitive points, which are equally distributed over the cross-section. The sensor is available in two designs: (1) wire-mesh sensor for lab applications and (2) sensor with enforced electrode rods for high mechanical loads. The device was recently tested in a vertical and a horizontal air–water flow in a pipe of 51.2 mm diameter.

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.

Coolant Mixing in a Pressurized Water Reactor: Deboration Transients, Steam-Line Breaks, and Emergency Core Cooling Injection

Abstract The reactor transient caused by a perturbation of boron concentration or coolant temperature at the inlet of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) depends on the mixing inside the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). Initial steep gradients are partially lessened by turbulent mixing with coolant from the unaffected loops and with the water inventory of the RPV. Nevertheless the assumption of an ideal mixing in the downcomer and the lower plenum of the reactor leads to unrealistically small reactivity inserts. The uncertainties between ideal mixing and total absence of mixing are too large to be acceptable for safety analyses. In reality, a partial mixing takes place. For realistic predictions it is necessary to study the mixing within the three-dimensional flow field in the complicated geometry of a PWR. For this purpose a 1:5 scaled model [the Rossendorf Coolant Mixing Model (ROCOM) facility] of the German PWR KONVOI was built. Compared to other experiments, the emphasis was put on extensive measuring instrumentation and a maximum of flexibility of the facility to cover as much as possible different test scenarios. The use of special electrode-mesh sensors together with a salt tracer technique provided distributions of the disturbance within downcomer and core entrance with a high resolution in space and time. Especially, the instrumentation of the downcomer gained valuable information about the mixing phenomena in detail. The obtained data were used to support code development and validation. Scenarios investigated are the following: (a) steady-state flow in multiple coolant loops with a temperature or boron concentration perturbation in one of the running loops, (b) transient flow situations with flow rates changing with time in one or more loops, such as pump startup scenarios with deborated slugs in one of the loops or onset of natural circulation after boiling-condenser-mode operation, and (c) gravity-driven flow caused by large density gradients, e.g., mixing of cold emergency core cooling (ECC) water entering the RPV through the ECC injection into the cold leg. The experimental results show an incomplete mixing with typical concentration and temperature distributions at the core inlet, which strongly depend on the boundary conditions. Computational fluid dynamics calculations were found to be in good agreement with the experiments.

The multipurpose thermalhydraulic test facility TOPFLOW: an overview on experimental capabilities, instrumentation and results

Abstract A new multipurpose thermalhydraulic test facility TOPFLOW (TwO Phase FLOW) was built and put into operation at Forschungszentrum Rossendorf in 2002 and 2003. Since then, it has been mainly used for the investigation of generic and applied steady state and transient two phase flow phenomena and the development and validation of models of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) codes in the frame of the German CFD initiative. The advantage of TOPFLOW consists in the combination of a large scale of the test channels with a wide operational range both of the flow velocities as well as of the system pressures and temperatures plus finally the availability of a special instrumentation that is capable in high spatial and temporal resolving two phase flow phenomena, for example the wire-mesh sensors.

Time resolving gamma-tomography for periodically changing gas fraction fields and its application to an axial pump

Abstract In the paper a novel non-intrusive tomographic method is presented to visualise the gas fraction distribution inside the rotating impeller of an axial pump delivering a two-phase flow. The device has been developed for an axial pump (inducer), which has an impeller with three helical blades rotating at 1500 rpm. Model fluid is air–water mixture created by a gas distributor upstream the pump inlet nozzle. The developed gamma-tomography set-up consists of a Cs-137 source and an arc of 64 scintillation detectors. Each of the detectors is connected to a number of counters grouped into banks. Each bank is active only during a 100 μs long interval of the rotation period, which corresponds to a well-defined angular interval of the impeller rotation. A trigger pulse, generated at the beginning of each revolution, forces the control unit to restart the counting process from the first bank. In this way, the device is able to measure ensemble averaged projections of the gamma absorption density distribution, which are resolved according to the rotating angle of the impeller. An image reconstruction by filtered back-projection provides density distributions inside the impeller. Void fraction distributions are visualised by means of differential tomography, i.e. by subtracting sets of projections obtained for two-phase operation and for plain liquid.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Boron Dilution Transients in Pressurized Water Reactors

Abstract Within the pressurized water reactor (PWR) safety analyses, attention has increasingly focused in recent years on boron dilution events that could potentially lead to reactivity transients. Mixing of the low-boron water with the ambient coolant of higher boron content provides an important mitigation mechanism before the low-boron water enters the core. Experimental support is needed to validate the computational tools to be applied to analyze the mixing of the low-boron water. Experiments were performed in the three test facilities—the Upper Plenum Test Facility (UPTF), the Primärkreislauf (PKL), and the Rossendorf coolant mixing model (ROCOM)—in Germany. The relevant PKL and UPTF tests were focused on small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) scenarios with reflux-condenser mode and restart of natural circulation. The two test facilities represent a typical western-type PWR and are/were operated by Siemens/KWU now Framatome ANP in Germany. While the restart of natural circulation was investigated in the PKL system test facility (volume 1:145, height 1:1), the UPTF experiments dealt with the mixing of water flows with different boron concentration in the cold legs, reactor pressure vessel (RPV) downcomer, and the lower plenum (all these components were full-scale models). The results from the PKL test facility demonstrate that in case of a postulated SBLOCA with reflux condensation phase, natural circulation does not start up simultaneously in all loops. This means that slugs of condensate, which might have accumulated in the pump seal during reflux-condenser mode of operation, would reach the RPV at different points in time. The UPTF tests showed an almost ideal mixing of water flows with different boron concentration in the RPV downcomer. The ROCOM test facility has been built in a linear scale of 1:5 for the investigation of coolant mixing phenomena in a wide range of flow conditions in the RPV of the German KONVOI-type PWR. The test results presented are focused on the mixing of a slug of deborated water during the startup of the first reactor coolant pump. Based on experimentally determined pulse responses, a semianalytical model for the description of coolant mixing inside the KONVOI RPV has been developed. Calculations for a presumed boron dilution event during the startup of the first reactor coolant pump have been carried out by means of the semianalytical model and independently by means of the computational fluid dynamics code CFX-4. The semianalytical model is able to describe the time dependent behavior of the deboration front at each fuel element position in a good agreement with the experiment. All main mixing effects, observed in the experiment, are also reproduced by the CFX calculation.

Uranium endowments in phosphate rock

This study seeks to identify and specify the components that make up the prospects of U recovery from phosphate rock. A systems approach is taken. The assessment includes i) reviewing past recovery experience and lessons learned; ii) identifying factors that determine recovery; and iii) establishing a contemporary evaluation of U endowments in phosphate rock reserves, as well as the available and recoverable amounts from phosphate rock and phosphoric acid production. We find that in the past, recovery did not fulfill its potential and that the breakup of the Soviet Union worsened then-favorable recovery market conditions in the 1990s. We find that an estimated 5.7 million tU may be recoverable from phosphate rock reserves. In 2010, the recoverable tU from phosphate rock and phosphoric acid production may have been 15,000 tU and 11,000 tU, respectively. This could have filled the world U supply-demand gap for nuclear energy production. The results suggest that the U.S., Morocco, Tunisia, and Russia would be particularly well-suited to recover U, taking infrastructural considerations into account. We demonstrate future research needs, as well as sustainability orientations. We conclude that in order to promote investment and production, it seems necessary to establish long-term contracts at guaranteed prices, ensuring profitability for phosphoric acid producers.

Concept of a novel fast neutron imaging detector based on THGEM for fan-beam tomography applications

The conceptual design and operational principle of a novel high-efficiency, fast neutron imaging detector based on THGEM, intended for future fan-beam transmission tomography applications, is described. We report on a feasibility study based on theoretical modeling and computer simulations of a possible detector configuration prototype. In particular we discuss results regarding the optimization of detector geometry, estimation of its general performance, and expected imaging quality: it has been estimated that detection efficiency of around 5-8% can be achieved for 2.5 MeV neutrons; spatial resolution is around one millimeter with no substantial degradation due to scattering effects. The foreseen applications of the imaging system are neutron tomography in non-destructive testing for the nuclear energy industry, including examination of spent nuclear fuel bundles, detection of explosives or drugs, as well as investigation of thermal hydraulics phenomena (e.g., two-phase flow, heat transfer, phase change, coolant dynamics, and liquid metal flow).