PIV Measurement of Velocity Distribution in the Moderator Circulation Test (MCT)

Hyoung Tae Kim^*, Bo Wook Rhee, Hwa-Lim Choi

Severe Accident and PHWR Safety Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.

DOI: 10.4236/jpee.2014.29011                

Abstract

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been carrying out a scaled-down moderator test program to simulate the CANDU-6 moderator circulation phenomena during steady state operation and accident conditions. The Moderator Circulation Test (MCT) facility was designed and constructed as 1/4 scale of the prototype of CANDU-6 reactor. In the present work spatial distribution of two-dimensional velocity in the MCT facility under isothermal condition was measured using planar Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system which consists of double pulsed laser, synchronizer, and high speed camera. TSI’s Insight TM 4G software was used to perform PIV image capturing, PIV calculation and post processing. 10 μm sized silver-coated hollow sphere particles were used as flow tracer particles. Multiple experiments were conducted to cover large area of the MCT facility with limited field of view of a single camera. Instantaneous and averaged velocity field were analyzed for each spatial position and flow rate. This research is capable of offering validation data for self-reliant CFD tools to predict moderator subcooling margin in CANDU-6 reactor.

Keywords

PIV, CANDU-6, Moderator Circulation Test (MCT), Moderator Subcooling

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Fan, H.Z., Aboud, R., Neal, P. and Nitheanandan, T. (2009) Enhancement of the Moderator Subcooling Margin Using Glass-Peened Calandria Tubes in CANDU Reactors. Proceedings of 30th Annual Conference of the Canadian Nuclear Society, Calgary.
[2]	Gillespie, G.E. (1981) An Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer from a Reactor Fuel Channel: To Surrounding Water. Proceedings of 2nd Annual Conference of the Canadian Nuclear Society, Ottawa.
[3]	Kim, H.T., Rhee, B.W., Cha, J.E. and Choi, H.L. (2013) Status of Moderator Circulation Test at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Proceedings of Korea Nuclear Society Spring Meeting, Gwangju.
[4]	Meinhart, C.D., Wereley, S.T. and Saniago, J.G. (2000) A Pive Algorithm for Estimating Time-Averaged Velocity Fields. Journal of Fluids Engineering, 122, 285-289.
[5]	Kim, H.T. (2013) Measurement of Velocity and Temperature Profiles in the Scaled-down CANDU-6 Moderator Tank. Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, Chengdu.
[6]	Kim, H.T., Seo, H. and Cha, J.E. (2013) Measurement of Velocity Profile in the 1/8 Scale CANDU-6 Moderator Tank Using Particle Image Velocimetry. Proceedings of 9th Pacific Symposium on Flow Visualization and Image Processing, Busan.
[7]	Kim, H.T., Cha, J.E., Rhee, B.W. and Choi, H.-L. (2012) Preliminary CFD Analysis of the Moderator Circulation Test. 1st International Workshop on Advanced CANDU Technology, Daejeon, 29-30 November 2012.