Direct contact condensation (DCC) has been used in various industries because of strong heat transfer efficiency. In particular, nuclear reactors use direct contact condensation phenomenon to protect the containment integrity during LOCA (Loss Of Cool...
Direct contact condensation (DCC) has been used in various industries because of strong heat transfer efficiency. In particular, nuclear reactors use direct contact condensation phenomenon to protect the containment integrity during LOCA (Loss Of Coolant Accident). SMART (System-integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor) developed by KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) selected Containment Pressure and Radioactivity Suppression System (CPRSS) using DCC concept as a Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS). The CPRSS lowers the pressure and temperature of containment during accident and prevent the release of radioactive material to atmosphere by condensing steam and dissolving radioactivity into an IRWST (In-Containment Refueling Water Storage Tank). SISTA (SMART IRWST Separated Test Apparatus) was constructed to validate design concept of the SMART CPRSS. In this paper, the steam mass flux was simulated as a scaled-down value from SMART CPRSS during LOCA and temperature was set to the 50 ℃ in order to induce chugging phenomenon occurring in SMART CPRSS. Visualization equipments were installed around the IRWST in order to investigate the DCC phenomenon. The results of the experiment were analyzed according to the conditions of the steam mass flux, the IRWST temperature, the direction of the sparger and the fraction of the non-condensable gas, respectively. Experimental results showed that the condensation regime was changed from external chugging to oscillatory bubble at 42 when IRWST temperature was 50 ℃ and the condensation regime was changed between 40 and 42 when IRWST temperature was 60 ℃. In the case of bubble deformation, as the steam mass flux increased, the size and lifetime of the bubbles decreased and the frequency of bubble generation increased. As a result of the steam & non-condensable gas mixture test, the size of the bubbles increased and the frequency bubble generation increased. In test condition of this study, the direction of the steam injection sparger had little effect on the DCC phenomenon. To accurately measure the characteristics of DCC bubbles deformation, 3D bubble reconstruction method was applied. It was possible to reconstruct more accurate shape of bubbles by reflecting visualized information of bubble deformation from two high speed cameras in front and side views of IRWST. In addition, to validate the 3D bubble reconstruction method, a virtual bubbles shape made by a 3D CAD program were used to quantify an uncertainty. Similar to the DCC bubbles, the virtual bubbles were created with a 3D CAD program. and it was applied in the same way using 3D bubble reconstruction method.