Experimental Study on Gas Entrainment from Free-surface Generation Mechanism of Dimple-Eddy

Tsuji, Yoshiyuki*; Kamide, Hideki 

Compact reactor vessel is designed to reduce construction cost of a fast reactor. In a compact reactor vessel flow velocity will increase and it causes gas entrainment at free surface. Thus, gas entrainment is one of significant issue of the reactor design. In this study we carried out a water experiment on the gas entrainment, especially the onset condition of a dimple vortex, which causes the gas entrainment in order to establish a guide line in a deisgn.This study is planned to carry in three years from 2003 to 2005. The year of 2004 corresponds to the second term. In this year, water experiment was carried out using a flow channel, vertical suction pipe, and an obstacle in order to see influences of obstacles on the gas entrainment and dimple vortex. Onset conditions of the gas entrainment due to the dimple vortex were obtained with experimental parameters of flow velocity in the channel, water level, and free surface wave or disturbance. It was shown that the onset of gas entrainment needed vertical vortex, e.g. in a wake of an obstacle, and disturbance of free surface block the onset of the dimple vortex and the gas entrainment.