Air clearing pressure oscillation produced in a quenching tank by a prototype unit cell sparger of the APR1400

KAERI has performed a series of experiments to investigate the performance of a prototype sparger for the APR1400 in view of a dynamic load oscillation with a variation of the test conditions such as a discharged air mass, a submergence of the sparger, the valve opening time, and the pool temperature during an air clearing phase. The air mass and pool temperature are in the range of 0.8-1.5 kg and 20-90 oC, respectively. The valve opening time can be adjusted within the range of 0.6-1.8 s. The maximum positive pressure amplitude, which is observed at the bottom of the quenching tank, is increased with the maximum header pressure of the sparger. The valve opening time has a considerable effect on the maximum amplitude. As the opening time decreases, the maximum amplitude at the tank wall is increased. Air mass and pool temperature, however, have a weak effect on the maximum amplitude. Oscillation frequency is decreased with an increase of the air mass in the range of 2.5-4.5 Hz