Dynamic PIV measurement on the effect of sound wave in upper plenum of boiling water reactor

In one of the power uprated plants in the United States, the steam dryer breakages due to fatigue fracture occurred. It is conceivable that the increased steam flow passing through the branches caused a self-induced vibration with the propagation of sound wave into the steam-dome. The resonance among the structure, flow and the pressure fluctuation resulted in the breakages. To understand the basic mechanism of the resonance, previous researches were done by a point measurement of the pressure and by a phase averaged measurement of the flow, while it was difficult to detect the interaction among them by the conventional method. In the preliminary study, Dynamic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) System was applied to investigate the effect of sound on the flow. (author)