| Under simulated accident conditions, tees in the primary coolant loop of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) can deviate from their original design purpose and become separators that effectively remove core heat sink capacity. This method of primary coolant removal is a phenomenological subset of phase separation known as liquid entrainment, whereby liquid is forced from its original path by the inertia of the gas. A comprehensive literature review revealed common deficiencies in previous studies. The Westinghouse AP600 advanced reactor design was chosen to assess the validity of entrainment models. Following a systematic scaling analysis of the prototypic design a model separate effects test was proposed and constructed at Oregon State University. Just under 100 tests were run to fill the deficiencies found in the literature review. New data from the Air-water Test Loop for Advanced Thermal-hydraulic Studies (ATLATS) could not be predicted by published correlations. A new theoretical model for predicting liquid entrainment onset and steady state entrainment was developed. Comparison with all available data shows a marked improvement for predicting the mass flow rate out the vertical branch. |
