Dryout in very deep particulate beds: Experimental results and their interpretation with measured axial pressure differences

Abstract

The dryout heat flux as the limiting parameter for a steady state removal of the decay heat by boiling was investigated experimentally with inductively heated beds of up to 100 cm depth. The uniform beds studied consisted of stainless steel particles of 1 mm and 3 mm in diameter. The dryout heat flux is reported as a function of bed depth. Observed pool oscillations are discussed. The measured axial pressure distribution in the bed was found to be a good tool for early dryout detection. The pre-dryout transient is discussed in the light of the axial pressure distributions including some comments on local dryout phenomena.