An Approach to Modelling of Intermittent Buoyancy Induced Flow

Abstract

In the event of a loss of forced circulation while at low power, heat sinks may be maintained by natural circulation phenomena including Intermittent Buoyancy Induced Flow (IBIF). The sensitivity of IBIF to a variety of parameters is an important consideration in determining its effectiveness as a cooling mechanism and in planning heat sinks. Although there has been some work done on IBIF in industry, there are no publicly available models of IBIF and very limited material available in open literature. This paper presents an outline of a proposed best-estimate IBIF model, to be used for uncertainty analysis.