Critical Heat Flux Experiments on the Reactor Vessel Wall Using 2-D Slice Test Section

Abstract

The critical heat flux (CHF) on the reactor vessel outer wall was measured using the two-dimensional slice test section. The radius and the channel area of the test section were 2.5 m and 10 cm × 15 cm, respectively. The flow channel area and the heater width were smaller than those of the ULPU experiments, but the radius was greater than that of the ULPU. The CHF data under the inlet subcooling of 2 to 25°C and the mass flux 0 to 300 kg/m²·s had been acquired. The measured CHF value was generally slightly lower than that of the ULPU. The difference possibly comes from the difference of the test section material and the thickness. However, the general trend of CHF according to the mass flux was similar with that of the ULPU. The experimental CHF data were compared with the predicted values by SULTAN correlation. The SULTAN correlation predicted well this study’s data only for the mass flux higher than 200 kg/m²·s, and for the exit quality lower than 0.05. The local condition-based correlation was developed, and it showed good prediction capability for broad quality (-0.01 to 0.5) and mass flux (<300 kg/m²·s) conditions with a root-mean-square error of 2.4%. There were increases in the CHF with trisodium phosphate-added water.