• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.429-445
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• 2008

Two-phase compressible flow fields of air-water are investigated numerically in the fixed Eulerian grid framework. The phase interface is captured via volume fractions of each phase. A way to model two phase compressible flows as a single phase one is found based on an equivalent equation of states of Tait's type for a multiphase cell. The equivalent single phase field is discretized using the Roe‘s approximate Riemann solver. Two approaches are tried to suppress the pressure oscillation phenomena at the phase interface, a passive advection of volume fraction and a direct pressure relaxation with the compressible form of volume fraction equation. The direct pressure equalizing method suppresses pressure oscillation successfully and generates sharp discontinuities, transmitting and reflecting acoustic waves naturally at the phase interface. In discretizing the compressible form of volume fraction equation, phase interfaces are geometrically reconstructed to minimize the numerical diffusion of volume fraction and relevant variables. The motion of a projectile in a water-filled tube which is fired by the release of highly pressurized air is simulated presuming the flow field as a two dimensional one, and several design factors affecting the projectile movement are investigated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.19-33
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• 2024

In nuclear thermal-hydraulic system codes, most correlations used for vertical pipes, under downward two-phase flow, have been developed considering small pipes or pool systems. This suggests that there could be uncertainties in applying the correlations to accident scenarios involving large vertical pipes owing to the difference in the characteristics of two-phase flows, or flow conditions, between large and small pipes. In this study, we modified the Multi-dimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety KINS Standard (MARS-KS) code using correlations, such as the drift-flux model and two-phase multiplier, developed in a plant-scale air-inflow experiment conducted for a pipe of diameter 600 mm under downward two-phase flow. The results were then analyzed and compared with those based on previous correlations developed for small pipes and pool conditions. The modified code indicated a good estimation performance in two plant-scale experiments with large pipes. For the siphon-breaking experiment, the maximum errors in water flow for modified and original codes were 2.2% and 30.3%, respectively. For the air-inflow accident experiment, the original code could not predict the trend of frictional pressure gradient in two-phase flow as / increased, while the modified MARS-KS code showed a good estimation performance of the gradient with maximum error of 3.5%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1495-1507
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• 2022

The improvement of thermal-hydraulic analysis techniques is essential to ensure the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants. The one-dimensional two-fluid model has been adopted in state-of-the-art thermal-hydraulic system codes. Current constitutive equations used in the system codes reach a mature level. Some exceptions are the partition method of wall friction in the momentum equation of the two-fluid model and the interfacial drag force model for a horizontal two-phase flow. This study is focused on deriving the partition method of wall friction in the momentum equation of the two-fluid model and modeling the interfacial drag force model for a horizontal bubbly flow. The one-dimensional momentum equation in the two-fluid model is derived from the local momentum equation. The derived one-dimensional momentum equation demonstrates that total wall friction should be apportioned to gas and liquid phases based on the phasic volume fraction, which is the same as that used in the SPACE code. The constitutive equations for the interfacial drag force are also identified. Based on the assessments, the Rassame-Hibiki correlation, Hibiki-Ishii correlation, Ishii-Zuber correlation, and Rassame-Hibiki correlation are recommended for computing the distribution parameter, interfacial area concentration, drag coefficient, and relative velocity covariance of a horizontal bubbly flow, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.416-423
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• 2015

It had been disputed how to apply wall drag to the dispersed phase in the framework of the conventional two-fluid model for two-phase flows. Recently, Kim et al. [1] introduced the volume-averaged momentum equation based on the equation of a solid/fluid particle motion. They showed theoretically that for dispersed two-phase flows, the overall two-phase pressure drop by wall friction must be apportioned to each phase, in proportion to each phase fraction. In this study, the validity of the proposed wall drag model is demonstrated though one-dimensional (1D) simulations. In addition, it is shown that the existing form loss model incorrectly predicts the motion of the dispersed phase. A new form loss model is proposed to overcome that problem. The newly proposed form loss model is tested in the region covering the lower plenum and the core in a nuclear power plant. As a result, it is shown that the new models can correctly predict the relative velocity of the dispersed phase to the surrounding fluid velocity in the core with spacer grids.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.482-490
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• 2007

When a molten corium is relocated in a lower head of a reactor vessel, the ERVC (External Reactor Vessel Cooling) system is actuated as coolant is supplied into a reactor cavity to remove a decay heat from the molten corium during a severe accident. To achieve this severe accident mitigation strategy, the two-phase natural circulation flow in the annular gap between the external reactor vessel and the insulation should be formed sufficiently by designing the coolant inlet/outlet area and gap size adequately on the insulation device. For this reason, one-dimensional natural circulation flow tests and the simple analysis were conducted to estimate the natural circulation flow under the ERVC condition of APR1400. The experimental facility is one-dimensional and scaled down as the half height and 1/238 channel area of the APR1400 reactor vessel. The calculated circulation flow rate was similar to experimental ones within about ${\pm}$15% error bounds and depended on the form loss due to the inlet/outlet area.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.1347-1360
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• 2009

A multi-dimensional component for the thermal-hydraulic system analysis code, MARS, was developed for a more realistic three-dimensional analysis of nuclear systems. A three-dimensional and two-fluid model for a two-phase flow in Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates was employed. The governing equations and physical constitutive relationships were extended from those of a one-dimensional version. The numerical solution method adopted a semi-implicit and finite-difference method based on a staggered-grid mesh and a donor-cell scheme. The relevant length scale was very coarse compared to commercial computational fluid dynamics tools. Thus a simple Prandtl's mixing length turbulence model was applied to interpret the turbulent induced momentum and energy diffusivity. Non drag interfacial forces were not considered as in the general nuclear system codes. Several conceptual cases with analytic solutions were chosen and analyzed to assess the fundamental terms. RPI air-water and UPTF 7 tests were simulated and compared to the experimental data. The simulation results for the RPI air-water two-phase flow experiment showed good agreement with the measured void fraction. The simulation results for the UPTF downcomer test 7 were compared to the experiment data and the results from other multi-dimensional system codes for the ECC delivery flow.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3086-3091
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• 2007

When a molten corium is relocated in a lower head of a reactor vessel, the ERVC (External Reactor Vessel Cooling) system is actuated as coolant is supplied into a reactor cavity to remove a decay heat from the molten corium during a severe accident. To achieve this severe accident mitigation strategy, the two-phase natural circulation flow in the annular gap between the external reactor vessel and the insulation should be formed sufficiently by designing the coolant inlet/outlet area and gap size adequately on the insulation device. For this reason, one-dimensional natural circulation flow tests were conducted to estimate the natural circulation flow under the ERVC condition of APR1400. The experimental facility is one-dimensional and scaled-down as the half height and 1/238 rectangular channel area of the APR1400 reactor vessel. As the water inlet area increased, the natural circulation mass flow rate asymptotically increased, that is, it converged at a specific value. And the circulation mass flow rate also increased as the outlet area, injected air flow rate, and outlet height increased. But the circulation mass flow rate was not changed along with the external water level variation if the water level was higher than the outlet height.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.356-363
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• 2012

This paper addresses an analytical study on the gas-solid two phase flows in a nozzle. The primary purpose is to get recognition into the gas-solid suspension flows and to investigate the particle motion and its influence on the gas flow field. The present study is the primal step to comprehend the gas-solid suspension flow in the convergent-divergent nozzle. This paper try to made a development of an analytical model to study the back pressure ratio, particles loading and the particle diameter effect on gas-solid suspension flow. Mathematical model of gas-solid two phase flow was developed based on the single phase flow models to solve the quasi-one-dimensional mass, momentum equations to calculate the steady pressure field. The influence of particles loading and particle diameter is analyzed. The results obtained show that the suspension flow of smaller diameter particles has almost same trend as that of single phase flow using ideal gas as working fluid. And the presence of particles will weaken the strength of the shock wave; the bigger particle will have larger slip velocity with gas flow. The thrust coefficient is found to be higher for larger particles/gas loading or back pressure ratio, but it also depends on the ambient pressure.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.308-311
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• 2008

As a severe accident mitigation strategy in a nuclear power plant, ERVC(External Reactor Vessel Cooling) has been proposed. Under ERVC conditions, where a molten corium is relocated in a reactor vessel lower head, a natural circulation two-phase flow is driven in the annular gap between the reactor vessel wall and its insulation. This flow should be sufficient to remove the decay heat of the molten corium and maintain the integrity of the reactor vessel. Preliminary experimental study was performed to estimate the natural circulation two-phase flow. The experimental facility which is one dimensional, the half height, and the 1/238 channel area of APR1400, was prepared and the experiments were carried out to estimate the natural circulation two-phase flow with varying the parameters of the coolant inlet area, the heat rate, and the coolant inlet subcooling. In results, the periodic circulation flow was observed and the characteristics were varied from the experimental parameters. The frequency of the natural circulation flow rate increased as the wall heat flux increased.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.299-310
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• 1996

A two-step approach has been used to obtain a new criterion for the onset of slug formation : (1) In the first step, a more general expression than the existing models for the onset of slug flow criterion has been derived from the analysis of singular points and neutral stability conditions of the transient one-dimensional two-phase flow equations of two-fluid model. (2) In the second step, introducing simplifications and incorporating a parameter into the general expression obtained in the first step to satisfy a number of physical conditions a priori specified, a new simple criterion for the onset of slug flow has been derived. Comparisons of the present model with existing models and experimental data show that the present model agrees very closely with Taitel & Dukler's model and experimental data in horizontal pipes. In an inclined pipe ($\theta$ =50$^{\circ}$), however, the difference between the predictions of the present model and those of existing models is appreciably large and the present model gives the best agreement with Ohnuki et al.'s data.