Summary of current work

The consensus reached after the first day of the workshop, during which current work was reported, was that neither the occurrence of, nor the extent of, waterhammer in steam generators and/or their piping could be predicted from basic principles or empirical formulas with any degree of confidence. It was recognized, however, that the cause of waterhammer in the feedring type of steam generators is reasonably well understood, albeit not predictable. It was generally agreed that the two major uncertainties regarding any reasonable prediction of waterhammer in a preheater or economizer type of steam generator are: (1) the interfacial heat transfer or condensation coefficient; and (2) the effect of the presence of tubes on the collapse of steam pockets. Any three-dimensional code is of only marginal benefit for the prediction of collapse rates and collapse pressures until both uncertainties are significantly clarified