Experimental investigation of solid particle spreading driven by gas injection into a pool of water

Abstract

Motivated from the fuel–coolant interaction phenomena in boiling water reactors, in the present work, effect of natural convection flows, set during the melt dripping, on the nature of formation of debris bed, of solidified particles, at the bottom floor is studied. Standard shape solid particles are used to simulate the dripping melt and their paths are tracked using a particle tracking technique to acquire additional data such as particles velocity, travel time and path. The experimental studies performed on PDS-P facility are designed to study the separate effects and generate the data for codes validation. A novel particle tracking technique allowed quantification of kinetic properties for every particle. The results helped in refinement of the particles distribution on the floor, quantifying the debris bed shape. Higher pool depths and natural convection flows rates are seen effective in enhancing the distribution of debris particles, creating shallow and well spread debris bed.