Interaction of a light gas stratified layer with an air jet coming from below: Large scale experiments and scaling issues

Estimation of Flow Field in Natural Convection with Density Stratification by Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter

For estimating thermal flow in a nuclear reactor during an accident accurately, it is important to improve the accuracy of computational fluid dynamics simulations. The temperature and flow velocity are not homogeneous and have large variations in a reactor containment vessel because of its very large volume. In addition, Kelm’s work pointed out that the influence of variations of initial and boundary conditions was important. Therefore, it is necessary to set the initial and boundary conditions taking into account the variations of these physical quantities. However, it is a difficult subject to set such complicated initial and boundary conditions. Then, we can obtain realistic initial and boundary conditions and an accurate flow field by data assimilation, and we can improve the accuracy of the simulation result. In this study, we applied data assimilation by a local ensemble transform Kalman filter to a simulation of natural convection behavior in density stratification, and we performed a twin model experiment. We succeeded in estimating the flow fields and improving the simulation accuracy by the data assimilation, even if we applied the boundary condition with error for the true condition.

Analyses of Gas Stratification Erosion by a Vertical Jet in Presence of an Obstacle Using the GOTHIC Code

The GOTHIC code was validated using three experiments carried out in the PANDA facility in the framework of the OECD/NEA HYMERES project. These tests addressed the mixing of an initially stratified atmosphere by means of a vertical jet in the presence of on obstacle (circular plate). This paper reports on the simulations of three experiments, and complementary, quasi-steady-state tests without stratification, where the flow structure above the impingement plate could be observed by means of particle image velocimetry (PIV) velocity measurements in a region larger than that considered in the transient experiments. Moreover, simulations of similar tests without obstacle conducted during the OECD/SETH-2 project are also discussed. The reference, best-estimate model used for the analyses of the three experiments with different flowrates and initial and pressure boundary conditions was built on the base of a multistep approach. This was based on mesh and modeling sensitivity studies mostly performed for the complementary tests, to assess the capability to represent the flow structure produced by the jet–plate interaction with different meshes around the plate. Generally, the results show that the use of a coarse mesh and the standard k–ε turbulence model permits a reasonable representation of the erosion process, but with a systematic over prediction of the mixing time. The results with the reference model were more accurate for two experiments with two flowrates and same initial conditions and all complementary tests. For the third test with different initial and boundary conditions, however, poor results were obtained with the reference model, which could only be improved by further refining the mesh. These results indicate that a model “qualified” for certain conditions could be inadequate for other cases, and sensitivity studies are necessary for the specific conditions considered in the analyses.

Nozzle Geometry Effect on Stratified Layer Erosion by Vertical Turbulent Jet

Knowledge of the nuclear power plants (NPPs) containment atmosphere composition in the course of a severe accident is crucial for the effective design and positioning of the hydrogen explosion countermeasures. This composition strongly depends on containment flows which may include turbulent jet mixing in the presence of buoyancy, jet impingement onto the stratified layer, stable stratification layer erosion, steam condensation on the walls of the containment, condensation by emergency spray systems and other processes. Thus, in modeling of containment flows, it is essential to correctly predict these effects. In particular, a proper prediction of the turbulent jet behavior before it reaches the stably stratified layer is critical for the correct prediction of its mixing and impingement. Accordingly, validation study is presented for free neutral and buoyancy-affected turbulent jets, based on well-known experimental results from the literature. This study allows for the choice of a proper turbulence model to be applied for containment flow simulations. Furthermore, the jet behavior strongly depends on the issuing geometry. A comparative study of erosion process for the conditions similar to the ones of international benchmark exercise (IBE-3) is presented for different jet nozzle shapes.