Stratification break-up by a diffuse buoyant jet; A CFD benchmark exercise

Studer, E.*; Abe, Satoshi  ; Andreani, M.*; Bharj, J. S.*; Gera, B.*; Ishay, L.*; Kelm, S.*; Kim, J.*; Lu, Y.*; Paliwal, P.*; Schramm, B.*; Wang, H.*

Nuclear engineering research groups were interested in the phenomena of the interaction between a rising jet and a stratified layer located above in order to better understand the underlying mechanisms of hydrogen accumulation and dispersion in a nuclear reactor containment. Previous studies were performed with an upward jet of fluid heavier or lighter than the upper stratified layer. However, in real configurations i.e. the inner part of a nuclear containment, obstacles such as pipes, components as pumps or reservoirs and walls are present, and they can dissipate the initial momentum of the gas release. Consequently, the upward flow pattern can be considered "diffuse" and buoyant, neither pure jet nor pure plume. Therefore, this challenging issue was part of a project called HYMERES, which was launched and conducted in the OECD/NEA framework. Dedicated experiments were performed to study the interaction between a diffuse buoyant jet and two-layer stratification. In the large-scale MISTRA facility, the HM1-1 test series were conducted in which the erosive flow pattern came from a horizontal hot air jet impinging on a vertical cylinder. These experimental results were offered for a blind and open benchmark exercise.