Measurements of High-Pressure Steam-Water Enthalpy/Void Migration in Unequally Heated Horizontal Twin Subchannels

Abstract

An experimental study of enthalpy/void migration in two interconnected, unequally heated horizontal subchannels was conducted using high-pressure steam-water as the operating medium. The cross-sectional geometry of the twin subchannels simulated two adjacent, top-to-bottom aligned inner subchannels of a 37-element CANDU3 fuel bundle. The effect of unequal heating on enthalpy/void migration was measured using three different heat flux ratios of 1.00, 1.11 and 1.21, with the higher heat flux in the top subchannel. The test results indicated that under similar flow conditions, the unequal heat flux set-up enhanced the enthalpy/void migration from the bottom to the top subchannel compared to the equal heat flux set up. This study quantifies and characterizes the buoyancy-induced enthalpy/void migration between two interconnected horizontal subchannels subject to different heat fluxes. The database will be used to validate and improve the flow-mixing models in subchannel codes.