Temperature fluctuation caused by coaxial-jet flow: Experiments on the effect of the velocity ratio R ⩾ 1

Abstract

The temperature fluctuation appears in the core outlet region due to the different of the temperature and velocity of the coolant, which can cause thermal stresses and the high-cycle thermal fatigue on solid boundaries. So, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of the temperature fluctuation. In the present study, a comparative experiment was performed to analyze the effect on the temperature fluctuation caused by the coaxial-jet flow from the inlet cold and hot fluid velocity ratios (R⩾1). In the condition of R⩾1, the distribution of the time-averaged temperature is the axial-symmetry. In the cold fluid field, the temperature field is divided into four parts, including the first steady region, linear region, nonlinear region and the second steady region along the axial direction, while that is lack of the first steady state region in the hot fluid field. In the condition of R=1, due to the velocity of the cold fluid is equivalent to that of the hot fluid, the cold fluid flow can be severely disturbed by the hot flow. The intense temperature fluctuation mainly distributed in the annular region at bottom region and the circular region in the upper region. While, in the condition of R>1, the inertia of the cold fluid is larger than that of the hot fluid. The hot fluid will attach itself to the periphery of the cold fluid. The intense temperature fluctuation distributed in the annular region between the cold and hot fluid and the periphery of the hot fluid. However, the intensity of temperature fluctuation under R>1 is weaker than that of R=1.