Interaction of turbulent deflagrations with representative flow obstacles

In the case of a gradual release of hydrogen in the course of an assumed, severe accident in a light water reactor, the combustion will normally start out as a slow deflagration. Acceleration of an initially slow flame due to interactions of chemical kinetics and turbulent heat and mass transfer can result in very high flame speeds. Therefore, in order to assess hydrogen mitigation techniques, detailed knowledge about flame acceleration and interaction of flames with obstacles is required. The reported investigations are aimed at the investigation of the mechanisms responsible for turbulent flame acceleration and improving present correlations for estimates and models for numerical simulations of hydrogen combustion processes. A medium-scale square cross-section setup is employed, using flow obstacles with shapes representative for reactor containments. The global flame speed is deduced from measurements using thermocouples, pressure transducers and photodiodes. Measurements using a two-component LDA-system are being carried through in order to correlate global flame spread and local turbulence parameters. Results indicate that low blockage-ratio obstacles only marginally influence the flame, as disturbances which are induced remain local to the vicinity of the obstacle and die out very quickly downstream thereof. Flow visualizations by means of a Schlieren setup indicate very complex flow structures in the vicinity of obstacles. The results are being used to validate turbulent reaction models. A model based on probability density functions (pdf) of assumed shape has been developed and initial calculations are presented. (author)