Experimental study for thermal striping phenomena of parallel triple-jet; Effects of the difference between hot jets and cold jet in discharged temperature and velocity on convective mixing

Kimura, Nobuyuki; Tokuhiro, Akira; Miyakoshi, Hiroyuki

Elucidation on thermal hydraulic behavior of Thermal Striping is of importance for a reactor safety, which is arisen form exit temperature difference of fuel subassemblies. Since its temperature fluctuation may cause thermal cycle fatigue on upper internal structure (UIS). A series of experiments was performed using the Thermal Striping water test facility in order to investigate the mixing phenomena on three vertical jets with exit velocity and temperature differences. The parameters were the velocity and temperature of the jets at discharge nozzles. The local velocities were measured by Ultrasound Velocity Profile (UVP) monitor and Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA), and temperature distributions were measured by thermocouples. This report mainly examined the experimental results of temperature measurements. There is a typical region where the gradient of the temperature variation in the triple-jet is 23 times larger than that in a single-jet: that is the Convective Mixing region. This region is independent of the discharged temperature difference. While the region is dependent on the discharged velocity difference, e.g. this region spreads with larger velocity difference among the jets. For isovelocity discharge conditions, non-dimensional temperature fields are almost independent of discharged temperature differences within Convective Mixing region. Consequently, the effect of temperature difference is negligible compared to that of velocity difference on the flow field. There are remarkable frequencies of 25 Hz in temperature fluctuation due to a oscillation of the central jet (cold jet) for this condition. While, for non-isovelocity discharge condition, there are no remarkable frequencies. Hence, it is clear that there is the region where a large thermal fatigue is imposed by Thermal Striping against structures of Fast Reactor. It is suggested that the structures have to be placed outside of Convective Mixing region. Also, it is considered that ...