Modeling Pressure Fluctuation With Cross Flow in a Tight-Lattice Rod Bundle

Abstract

To explore the mechanism of differential pressure fluctuation inducing cross flow between subchannels in the tight-lattice rod bundle, an evaluation method is presented, which permits the prediction in detail of the unsteady differential pressure fluctuation behavior between subchannels. The instantaneous fluctuation of differential pressure between two subchannels in gas-liquid slug flow regime is deemed as a result of the intermittent nature of slug flow in each subchannel. The method is based on the detailed numerical simulation result of two-phase flow that pressure drop occurs mainly in the liquid slug region and it is, however, negligibly small in the bubble region. The instantaneous fluctuation of differential pressure between two subchannels is associated with pressure gradient in the liquid slug for each channel. In addition to a hydrostatic gradient, acceleration and frictional gradients are taken into account to predict pressure gradient in the liquid slug. This method used in conjunction with the numerical simulation code works satisfactorily to reproduce numerical simulation results for instantaneous fluctuation of differential pressure between two modeled subchannels. It is shown that the static head, acceleration, and frictional pressure drops in the liquid slug are main contributions to the fluctuation of differential pressure between subchannels.