Air-water mixing experiments for direct vessel injection of KNGR

Abstract

Two air-water mixing experiments are conducted to understand the flow behavior in the downcomer for Direct Vessel Injection (DVI) of Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR). In the first experiment which is an air-water experiment in the rectangular channel with the gap size of 1cm, the width of water film is proportional to the water and air velocities and the inclined angle is proportional to the water velocity only, regardless of the water velocity injected in the rectangular channel. It is observed that the amount of entrained water is negligible. In the second experiment which is a full-scaled water jetting experiment without air flow, the width of water film is proportional to the flow rate injected from the pipe exit and the film thickness of water varies from 1.0mm to 5.0mm, and the maximum thickness does not exceed 5.0mm. The amount of water separated from the liquid film after striking of water jetting on the wall is measured. The amount of separation water is proportional to the flow rate, but the separation ratio in the full-scaled water jetting is not over 15%. A simplified physical model, which is designed to predict the trajectories of the width of water film, is validated through the comparison with experiment results. The 13° upward water droplet of the water injected from the pipe constitutes the outermost boundary at 1.7m below from pipe level, after the water impinges against the wall. In the model, the parameter, η which represents the relationship between the jetting velocity and the initial spreading velocity, is inversely proportional to the water velocity when it impinges against the wall. The error of the predictions by the model is decreased within 14% to the experimental data through use of exponential fitting of η for the jetting water velocity.