Hydrodynamic fragmentation of drops
Sometimes the contact of a hot liquid with a cold one can develop into a rapid thermal interaction in which a significant fraction of the thermal energy in the hot liquid is converted to work. These interactions are called thermal explosions. To obtain a coherent explosion, a coupling of the damaging pressure pulse and the extremely rapid and fine fragmentation which is required to occur behind it, must exist. In the simplest case we can examine the purely hydrodynamic fragmentation induced by a shcok wave. To this end we have constructed a hydrodyamic shock tube facility in which the morphology of this fragmentation can be studied. For high density ratio and interfacial tension systems, the fragmentation is found to be probably due to penetration of the drop by unstable waves. We have deduced an envelope of conditions to characterize drop breakup in these systems. Analytical models, which involve the time constants of both the drop-piercing Taylor instability and the wake-forming shear effects, reflect our experimental results well. In addition, it is found that the mercury/water system studied here should simulate the uranium dioxide/sodium pair, which is the interest in safety studies of fast reactors. Recently published models which explore the relevance of thermal explosions in fast reactors, have utilized fragmentation results in liquid/gas systems. The fragmentation process is a prime unknown in these models; the subsequent heat transfer, vaporization and expansion being much better understood. Our experiments indicate that the fragmentation behavior of liquid/liquid systems can be very distinct from that in liquid/gas pairs and an incorporation of our results would be necessary in these models.
- Research Organization:
- Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5273464
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Two phase description of hydrodynamic fragmentation processes within thermal detonation waves
Characterization of drop aerodynamic fragmentation in the bag and sheet-thinning regimes by crossed-beam, two-view, digital in-line holography
Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
DROPLETS
FRAGMENTATION
FUEL-COOLANT INTERACTIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
ENERGY CONVERSION
GASES
HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL
LIQUIDS
SODIUM
URANIUM OXIDES
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METALS
BREEDER REACTORS
CHALCOGENIDES
CONVERSION
ELEMENTS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FLUIDS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
METALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE MODELS
PARTICLES
REACTORS
STATISTICAL MODELS
THERMODYNAMIC MODEL
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210500 - Power Reactors
Breeding