Drift-flux model for upward dispersed two-phase flows in a vertical rod bundle

Abstract

The present study investigates the drift-flux model for upward dispersed two-phase flows in a vertical rod bundle. The drift-flux model is critical to formulating the interfacial drag force in one-dimensional simulation codes. A rod bundle includes three length scales: a large outer casing width, a medium hydraulic equivalent diameter of a subchannel, and a small gap between rods. Existing research does not provide comprehensive information on an appropriate geometrical length scale for a rod bundle. The present study calculates the evolution process of the drift velocity using the two-bubble-group approach. The two-bubble-group-based formulation is simplified to calculate the drift velocity behavior at the transition between bubbly and beyond-bubbly flows. A scheme is proposed to explicitly calculate the distribution parameter and drift velocity with operating parameters. The new drift-flux correlation is validated by 317 data collected for the pressure from 0.1 to 12 MPa. The extensive evaluation identifies that an appropriate length scale characterizing a two-phase flow in a rod bundle is an outer casing width of a rod bundle. The prediction bias of the new drift-flux correlation was negligibly small, and the random error was 0.0571 in an absolute value measure and 16.1 % in a relative value measure.