Scale effects analysis on the thermo-hydraulic behaviour of impinging jets

Safety studies and numerical modelling implemented within the framework of studies on fast neutron reactors imply a need for validation of calculation codes using representative mock-ups. A safety issue identified in this type of reactor is the rise of the radial jet resulting from the impact of hot jets from the core to the Upper Core Structure (UCS). This rise induces thermal fluctuations and thermal stratification in the upper plenum causing thermal fatigue on the components. Understanding the various mechanisms at work in the phenomenon of radial jet raising is necessary in order to be predictive about the operating conditions for which this phenomenon occurs. For this purpose, the MICAS mock-up is used, which geometrically reproduces the upper plenum of the ASTRID reactor on a 1/6 scale, using water as a simulating fluid instead of sodium. In order to validate the ASTRID simulation codes, the representativeness of the MICAS mock-up must be validated with respect to its reduced scale but also to its simulating fluid. In order to study the transposition of the jet behaviour between different scales, a method of scale effects analysis is introduced, based on three mock-ups at different scales but representative of the reactor. A phenomenological study is carried out on a simplified model, PIGNIA, allowing to verify experimentally the theoretical dependence of the trajectory of the jet on the densimetric Froude number of the radial jet, justifying its conservation as a similarity parameter for the transposition of the jet behaviour. A transfer function to relate the radial jet conditions to the nozzle outlet conditions is established theoretically and validated experimentally. To obtain a critical value of the densimetric Froude number in representative geometry, tests are performed on the MICAS model. Based on the experimental conditions of MICAS leading to the rise of the jet, two representative mock-ups are sized: MOJIT-Eau and MOJI/4, respectively at scales 1/2,5 and 1/4 relative to MICAS. A study of the flow under isothermal conditions on the MOJIT-Eau and MOJI/4 mock-ups shows an attachment of the radial jet to the surface of the core, due to Coanda effect. This effect depends only on the geometrical quantities of the system. A thermal-hydraulic study is finally carried out to verify the conditions of extrapolation of the recovery phenomenon. A binary behaviour is observed on the rise of the jet, which is either attached and runs along the core or detached and rises in the plenum. The Coanda effect plays a major role on the stability of the jet. The densimetric Froude number alone is not sufficient to characterize this phenomenon, which occurs on MICAS. A new dimensionless number L, representing the competition between inertia, buoyancy and Coanda effects, is then defined. This number allows for the correct transposition of the detachment and thus the rise of the jet between MICAS, MOJIT-Eau and MOJI/4. The conditions expected on ASTRID by the conservation of this number allow to study the distortion of the water-sodium similarity on the heat exchanges. Water is then verified as a relevant choice for the representativeness of small-scale mock-ups with respect to ASTRID by estimating the Peclet number (representing the heat exchange modes) of the reactor: the change of fluid corrects the change of scale on these aspects. (author)