Volume-heated boiling pool flow behavior and application to transition phase accident conditions

Observations of two-phase flow fields in volume-heated boiling pools are reported. Photographic observations, together with pool-average void fraction measurements are presented. Flow regime transition criteria derived from the measurements are discussed. The churn-turbulent flow regime was the dominant regime for superficial vapor velocities up to nearly five times the Kutateladze dispersal velocity. Within this range of conditions, a churn-turbulent drift flux model provides a reasonable prediction of the pool-average void fraction data. The results of the experiment and analyses are extrapolated to transition phase conditions. It is shown that intense pool boil-up could occur where the pool-average void fraction would be greater than 0.6 for steel vaporization rates equivalent to power levels greater than one percent of nominal LMFBR power density