Studies on turbulence structure and liquid film behavior in annular two-phase flow flowing in a throat section

Experimental studies on turbulence structure and liquid film behavior in annular two-phase flow were carried out concerned with the steam injector systems for a next-generation nuclear reactor. In the steam injector, steam/water annular two-phase flow is formed at the mixing nozzle. To make an appropriate design for high-performance steam injector system, it is very important to accumulate the fundamental data of thermo-hydro dynamic characteristics of annular flow in the steam injector. Especially, the turbulence modification in multi-phase flow due to the phase interaction is one of the most important phenomena and has attracted research attention. In this study, the liquid film behavior and the resultant turbulence modification due to the phase interaction were investigated. The behavior of the interfacial waves on liquid film flow such as the ripple or disturbance waves were observed to make clear the interfacial velocity and the special structure of the interfacial waves by using the high-speed video camera and the digital camera. The measurements for gas-phase velocity profiles and turbulent intensity in annular flow passing through the throat section were precisely performed to investigate quantitatively the turbulent modification in annular flow by using the constant temperature hot-wire anemometer. The measurements for liquid film thickness by the electrode needle method were also carried out. (author)