Experimental study of the effect of interfacial shear stress on jet

Masaki, Naoto*; Kaneko, Akiko*; Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Extended Abstracts for the 11th JSME-KSME Thermal and Fluid Engineering Conference (J-K TFEC11) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2025/10

In the event of a core meltdown in a nuclear reactor, molten fuel has a possibility to enter a coolant pool in a jet-like manner. Jet atomization promoting heat transfer between molten fuel and coolant is crucial for severe accident management. Previous studies of jet atomization have focused on interfacial shear stress acting on a jet because it contributes to the growth and deformation of interfacial waves and ultimately promote droplet formation. However, it is extremely difficult to observe interfacial wave evolution on a cylindrical jet and quantify interfacial shear stress acting on an interface. Then, the effect of interfacial shear stress acting on a jet is not fully clarified. This study aims to experimentally clarify the effect of interfacial shear stress on jet atomization. We conducted experiments in a liquid-liquid system using the 3D-LIF method and PIV. Herein, a glycerol-water solution was used as a jet phase and silicone oil as a continuous phase to match their refractive indices. A jet entered vertically downward through a 3 mm nozzle into a pool. The injection velocity was 2.6 m/s, and the pool depth was 30 mm. To use the 3D-LIF method and PIV with refractive index matching, Rhodamine 6G and tracer particles were used. As a result, waves on a jet interface were observed to have two modes. The larger waves appeared in a two-dimensional (axisymmetric) form at the interface more than 15 mm away from the nozzle, and three-dimensional smaller waves (wavelength = 1 mm) were found to form on the surface of these larger waves. Furthermore, the interfacial shear stress acting on the smaller waves was found to be greater than that acting on the larger waves. Droplets were also observed to form easily from the smaller waves. From these results, we experimentally concluded that high interfacial shear stress acting on small waves promotes droplet formation.

Study on water stopping, repair and stabilization of lower PCV by geopolymer, etc. (Contract research); FY2022 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; The University of Tokyo*

JAEA-Review 2024-021, 126 Pages, 2024/11

JAEA-Review-2024-021.pdf:6.51MB

The Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), had been conducting the Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project (hereafter referred to "the Project") in FY2022. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO). For this purpose, intelligence was collected from all over the world, and basic research and human resource development were promoted by closely integrating/collaborating knowledge and experiences in various fields beyond the barrier of conventional organizations and research fields. The sponsor of the Project was moved from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to JAEA since the newly adopted proposals in FY2018. On this occasion, JAEA constructed a new research system where JAEA-academia collaboration is reinforced and medium-to-long term research/development and human resource development contributing to the decommissioning are stably and consecutively implemented. Among the adopted proposals in FY2021, this report summarizes the research results of the "Study on water stopping, repair and stabilization of lower PCV by geopolymer, etc" conducted in FY2022. The present study aims to propose a construction method to stop jet deflectors by improved geopolymer and ultra-heavy muddy water, and to repair the lower part of the dry well. In addition, in order to increase the options for on-site construction in unknown situations such as deposition conditions, we will examine a wide range of construction outside the pedestal, and evaluate the feasibility of the construction method by the latest thermal flow simulation method.

The Behavior of a jet passing through a grid-type obstacle; An Experimental investigation

Abe, Satoshi; Shibamoto, Yasuteru

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 202, p.110461_1 - 110461_16, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110461

Measurement of fragments of a wall-impinging liquid jet in a shallow pool

Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Proceedings of 12th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS12) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2022/10

For safety evaluation of nuclear reactors in severe accidents, it is important to estimate physical quantities of fragments generated from the molten fuel jet, which falls in a pool and breaks up. The evaluation method has been developed for the behavior as liquid jet with hydrodynamic interaction including fuel coolant interaction (FCI). In case of a shallow pool assumed in ex-vessel, the molten fuel jet is assumed to behave as wall-impinging liquid jet and to form liquid film flow spreading on the floor with/without fragmentation. In our research, focusing on hydrodynamic interaction and the transient 3-dimensional spreading on the floor, we have developed the evaluation method by numerical simulation using the two-phase flow simulation code with interface tracking method (TPFIT) developed by JAEA and, the experimental method using the 3D-LIF method in liquid-liquid system for the validation data. In our previous studies, we investigated the wall-impinging liquid jet behavior with fragmentation and observed that the liquid film flow had some characteristic parts transiently. Since it indicates that the quantities change depending on the parts and affect the safety evaluation, it is important to measure the quantities of the fragments generated from each part. This paper explains the measurement of the physical quantities of the fragments generated from each part of the wall-impinging liquid jet in a shallow pool for the validation of the numerical simulation. We conducted an experiment with the 3D-LIF method and segmented the experimental data based on the fragmentation point over the liquid film flow using the dispersed phase tracking method, developed by JAEA. Then, we measured the diameter and amount of the fragments from the segmented experimental data and investigated their changing trend.

Experimental study of liquid spreading and atomization due to jet impingement in liquid-liquid systems

Yamamura, Sota*; Fujiwara, Kota*; Honda, Kota*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Horiguchi, Naoki; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Physics of Fluids, 34(8), p.082110_1 - 082110_13, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0100340

Liquid spreading and atomization due to jet impingement in liquid-liquid systems are considered to be crucial for understanding the cooling behavior of high-temperature molten material in a shallow water pool. This phenomenon takes place when a liquid jet enters a pool filled with other immiscible liquid. The jet spreads radially after impinging on the floor while forming a thin liquid film and atomizing droplets. In this paper, we explain the result to quantify the unsteady three-dimensional behavior of the spreading jet by the employment of 3D-LIF measurements and 3-dimensional reconstruction. Under high flow velocity conditions, the phenomena of hydraulic jump and atomization of the liquid film occurred along with the spreading. To evaluate the spreading behavior, a comparison of the jump radius position of the liquid-liquid system as the representative value was made with the one calculated by the existing theory of a gas-liquid system. As the result, the spreading of the liquid film in the liquid-liquid system was suppressed compared with that in the gas-liquid system. Furthermore, the PTV method was successfully used to measure the velocity boundary layer and velocity profile in the liquid film, which are important factors that affect the spreading mechanism of the liquid film. These results revealed that in liquid-liquid systems, shear stress at the liquid-liquid interface causes a decrease in the flow velocity and suppressed the development of the velocity boundary layer. Also, to evaluate the atomization behavior, the number and diameter distribution of the droplets were measured from the acquired 3-dimensional shape data of the jet. As the result, the number of droplets increased with the flow velocity. Based on these results, we concluded that the spreading of the liquid film is affected by such atomization behavior.

Time-resolved 3D visualization of liquid jet breakup and impingement behavior in a shallow liquid pool

Kimura, Fumihito*; Yamamura, Sota*; Fujiwara, Kota*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Saito, Shimpei*; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 389, p.111660_1 - 111660_11, 2022/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.111660

Highly sensitive detection of sodium in aqueous solutions using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with liquid sheet jets

Nakanishi, Ryuzo; Oba, Hironori; Saeki, Morihisa; Wakaida, Ikuo; Tanabe, Rie*; Ito, Yoshiro*

Optics Express (Internet), 29(4), p.5205 - 5212, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.415308

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) combined with liquid jets was applied to the detection of trace sodium (Na) in aqueous solutions. The sensitivities of two types of liquid jets were compared: a liquid cylindrical jet with a diameter of 500 m and a liquid sheet jet with a thickness of 20 m. Compared with the cylindrical jet, the liquid sheet jet effectively reduced the splash from the laser-irradiated surface and produced long-lived luminous plasma. The limit of detection (LOD) of Na was determined to be 0.57 g/L for the sheet jet and 10.5 g/L for the cylindrical jet. The LOD obtained for the sheet jet was comparable to those obtained for commercially available inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometers.

Numerical simulation of liquid jet behavior in shallow pool by interface tracking method

Suzuki, Takayuki*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Horiguchi, Naoki; Yamamura, Sota*; Abe, Yutaka*

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16213

CFD analysis of the CIGMA experiments on the heated JET injection into containment vessel with external surface cooling

Hamdani, A.; Abe, Satoshi; Ishigaki, Masahiro; Shibamoto, Yasuteru; Yonomoto, Taisuke

Proceedings of 18th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-18) (USB Flash Drive), p.5463 - 5479, 2019/08

Cutting operation of simulated fuel assembly heating examination by AWJ

Abe, Yuta; Nakagiri, Toshio; Watatani, Satoshi*; Maruyama, Shinichiro*

JAEA-Technology 2017-023, 46 Pages, 2017/10

JAEA-Technology-2017-023.pdf:8.01MB

This is a report on Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) cutting work carried out on specimen, which was used for Simulated Fuel Assembly Heating Examination by Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS) molten core behavior analysis group in February 2016. The simulated fuel assembly is composed of Zirconia for the outer crucible/simulated fuel, stainless steel for the control blade and Zircaloy (Zr) for the cladding tube/channel box. Therefore, it is necessary to cut at once substances having a wide range of fracture toughness and hardness. Moreover, it is a large specimen with an approximate size of 300 mm. In addition, epoxy resin has high stickiness, making it more difficult to cut. Considering these effects, AWJ cutting was selected. The following two points were devised, and this specimen could be cut with AWJ. If it was not possible to cut at one time like a molten portion of boride, it was repeatedly cut. By using Abrasive Suspension Jet (ASJ) system with higher cutting ability than Abrasive Injection Jet (AIJ, conventional method) system, cutting time was shortened. As a result of this work, the cutting method in Simulated Fuel Assembly Heating Examination was established. Incidentally, in the cutting operation, when the cutting ability was lost at the tip of the AWJ, a curved cut surface, which occurs when the jet flowed away from the feeding direction, could be confirmed at the center of the test body. From the next work, to improve the cutting efficiency, we propose adding a mechanism such as turning the cutting member itself for re-cutting from the exit side of the jet and appropriate traverse speed to protect cut surface.