Experimental Study on Gas Entrainment at Free Surface in Reactor Vessel of a Compact Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

Abstract

An innovative sodium-cooled fast reactor has been investigated as part of the fast reactor cycle technology development (FaCT) project. In the reactor, a compact reactor vessel (R/V) with increased sodium flow velocity was designedto reduce the construction cost. One of the thermal hydraulic problems associated with this design is gas entrainment at the free surface in the R/V. Horizontal plates are set below the free surface in order to prevent the gas entrainment. A water experiment was performed using a partial model built to 1/1.8 scale. The objective was to investigate the occurrence of gas entrainment under certain conditions and the mechanism of the gas entrainment. It was found that there were two types of gas entrainment phenomenon, and the conditions for their occurrence were far different from the rated condition in the reactor. One type of gas entrainment occurred at the wake region of flow around the cold leg pipe created due to the larger horizontal velocity in the R/V. The other type of gas entrainment occurred at the region between the hot leg pipe and the R/V wall when the coolant level was low and the downward velocity was large. The mechanisms of the gas entrainment at the two regions were clarified by the detailed measurement of transient flow velocity field.