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Title: Pressure loss in two-phase flow through a microchannel rod bundle

Journal Article · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
OSTI ID:644290
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Site

The purpose of the microchannel rod bundle two-phase flow test described here was to provide data for benchmarking safety analyses for the accelerator production of tritium (APT). The objective was to obtain pressure loss data for a typical accelerator target rod bundle over a wide range of two-phase flow conditions. The test rod bundle assembly was fabricated for single-phase pressure drop tests conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and subsequently used for the two-phase flow testing described here. The results for a typical case are given. These results fall generally in the slug flow regime for the horizontal flow results of Fukano and Kariyasaki for a 1.0-mm circular channel. Fukano and Kariyasaki found that surface tension effects were dominant in the 1-mm channel and report no churn regime. The results were also compared with the flow regime maps given by Triplett et al. for flow in discrete microchannels. Triplett employed both circular and trapezoidal channels, the latter to approximate the rod bundle interstitial flow channel shape. It was found that the rod bundle flow fell across the slug-to-churn flow regime transition reported by Triplett. This is consistent with the expectation that cross flow among channels would result in turbulent mixing and would suppress the formation of large discrete bubbles.

OSTI ID:
644290
Report Number(s):
CONF-980606-; ISSN 0003-018X; TRN: 98:008217
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 78; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society, Nashville, TN (United States), 7-12 Jun 1998; Other Information: PBD: 1998
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English