Experimental study of flow instability in elongated natural circulation system

The visual experimental study with water as the working substance was performed to investigate the operation behavior of a natural circulation system with elongated loops and long horizontal sections at atmospheric pressure, and the transient operation behavior and instability mechanism of typical experimental phenomenon (P= 1.46 kW) were given. The results show that the single natural circulation in elongated system with the great resistance coefficient is difficult to appear, but the heat can be removed by two-phase intermittent boiling. The driven force caused by the sub-cooled boiling can not drive the fluid to produce the effective natural circulation because of the great loop resistance, and the circular flow occurs only when the fluid in heat section produces the saturation boiling. The big loop resistance and flashing because of pressure drop in boiling process make the elongated natural circulation difficult to maintain a stable flow driven head and they are the fundamental reasons of intermittent boiling and strong flow instability. (authors)