Research of condensation induced water hammer under filling a horizontal pipe with subcooled water

Abstract

Experiments at the KGU test facility, devoted to condensation induced water hammers (CIWH) were analysed with the WAHA code. Test section of the KGU test facility is slightly inclined horizontal pipe of 3 m length and of 64 mm inner diameter. Subcooled water was supplied to the pipe inlet, pipe outlet was connected to separator vessel. Upper part of separator vessel was connected to steam source. Experiments were performed for different system pressure, different water subcooling and different mass flow rate of water supply. The performed experimental study of CIWH showed that in the investigated range of parameters, the development of CIWH occurs in different ways. At the stage of water propagation along the filled with steam horizontal pipe, water hammer was not observed. At the stage of free drainage of water from the outlet end of the pipe, water hammer was realized only when the water was sufficiently subcooled. At the stage of the water level rise in the horizontal pipe, water hammer occurred in all tests. At the last stage of filling the upper part in the separation vessel, there were small water hammers due to the collapses of the remaining steam bubbles. Numerical modelling of these experiments with the WAHA code revealed the shortcomings of the interphase heat transfer model developed for this code, which have a noticeable effect on the numerical solution.