Flow-accelerated corrosion of type 316L stainless steel caused by turbulent lead-bismuth eutectic flow

Wan, T.; Saito, Shigeru   

In this study, an LBE loop referred to as JLBL-1 was used to experimentally study the behavior of 316L SS when subjected to FAC for 3000 h under non-isothermal conditions. An orifice tube specimen, consisting of a straight tube that abruptly narrows and widens at each end, was installed in the loop. The specimen temperature was 450 centigrade, and a temperature difference between the hottest and coldest legs of the loop was 100 centigrade. The oxygen concentration in the LBE was less than 10 wt.%. The Reynolds number in the test specimen was approximately 5.310. The effects of various hydrodynamic parameters on FAC behavior were studied with the assistance of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses, and then a mass transfer study was performed by integrating a corrosion model into the CFD analyses. The results show that the local turbulence level affects the mass concentration distribution in the near-wall region and therefore the mass transfer coefficient across the solid/liquid interface. The corrosion depth was predicted on the basis of the mass transfer coefficient obtained in the numerical simulation and was compared with that obtained in the loop; the two results agreed well.