Effects of steam-water vs. air-water fluid pairs and pressure on flooding in large-diameter tubes
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Under postulated accident conditions in a light water reactor, steam-water flooding can have important effects on the redistribution of mass and energy through the primary system. Many data exist for air- water flooding in large-diameter vertical tubes and at various pressures. Since steam-water flows are of interest for reactor applications but insufficient data are available to enable reliable analysis, the need exists to evaluate the applicability of the air-water data to steam-water applications. Factors that could produce important differences between air-water flooding and steam-water flooding include the large phase-change effect in steam-water flooding when the water is subcooled and the differences in thermodynamic properties of the fluids. A program to experimentally compare air-water flooding data and steam-water flooding data is presented herein. First, air-water data and steam-water data obtained to develop flooding models for reactor safety codes are reviewed and the major scaling deficiency in associated facilities, namely pressure scaling, is discussed. Second, a new program to obtain data for both fluid combinations in the same experimental facility is described. The facility description and the technical approach to obtain consistent flooding data for the two fluid mixtures at up to 0.4 MPa pressure are presented.
