Gas Entrainment in the IHX Vessel of Top-Entry Loop-Type LMFBR

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the prediction of gas entrainment onset conditions for free surface flow in the vessel of a fast-breeder reactor. The scale effect on the gas entrainment onset was examined by conducting water experiments using 4 scaled models, while the effects of fluid properties were studied by changing the viscosity and the surface tension coefficient of working fluids. The experimental results have indicated that the critical Froude number decreased in proportion to the -0.5th power of scale. The results have also shown that gas is likely to be entrained with a decrease in viscosity and surface tension coefficient. Furthermore, applicability of a computational method to gas entrainment prediction is studied by means of a finite difference analysis.