Estimates of important physics for vent clearing and bubble growth through dimensional analysis

The fundamental conservation equations describing downcomer flow and bubble growth in a boiling water reactor (BWR) pressure suppression system are analyzed and the order of magnitude is estimated for each of the terms. On the basis of these estimates, conclusions are drawn that indicate the problem may be closely approximated by assuming the flow to be inviscid and incompressible and, further, that buoyancy effects will be relatively important in the bubble growth phase of the flow