Application of a gradient diffusion and dissipation time scale ratio model for prediction of mean and fluctuating temperature fields in liquid sodium downstream of a multi-bore jet block

Abstract

A previously developed diffusivity based model, for the prediction of mean and fluctuating temperatures in water flow downstream of a multi-bore jet block in which one jet is heated, is applied to a flow of sodium in apparatus of similar geometry. Some measurements not readily possible in sodium or water flows for this geometry are made using air in order to verify assumptions used in the model. The earlier derived mathematical model is modified to remove assumptions relating to turbulence Reynolds number and turbulence Peclet number in the relationship between velocity and temperature microscales. Spalding's model, relating fluctuating velocity and temperature dissipation rates, is tested. A significant effect on this relationship due to the low Prandtl number of liquid sodium is identified. Measurements performed behind a multi-bore jet block with air as the working fluid have verified the non-isotropic nature of the large-scale flow. Results clearly show that measurements performed in water can be transferred to liquid sodium provided that molecular diffusion is included in the mean temperature equation, allowance is made for the Prandtl number effect on the dissipation time scale ratio and the coefficient of gradient diffusion of mean square temperature fluctuations is assumed equal to the eddy diffusivity of heat.