Experimental investigation and modelling of bulk boiling for CFD application

Bulk boiling is a phenomenon characterised by production of vapour inside a liquid away from heating surfaces. This boiling phenomenon is of interest in reactor safety considerations about de-pressurisation of heated pressurised reactor systems. For observation of such flow phenomena a test set-up is available working with de-mineralised water at ambient pressure. The bubble behaviour is visualised within an observation volume and is recorded using a video camera. Vapour formation and bubble behaviour are evaluated using digital video processing. The experimental data are used for comparison with transient computational fluid dynamics simulations. (author)