Implementation of a strainer model for calculating the pressure drop across beds of compressible, fibrous materials

Mineral wool insulation debris, which is generated during a loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA), has the potential to undermine the long-term recirculation capability of the emergency core coolant system (ECCS) in a nuclear power plant. Most importantly, ECCS pumps are faced with an increasing pressure drop while insulation debris accumulates at the pump suction strainers. The presented study aims at modelling the pressure drop of flows across growing cakes of compressible, fibrous materials and at the implementation of the model into a general-purpose 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Computed pressure drops are compared with experimentally found values. The ability of the CFD implementation to simulate 3D flows with a non-uniformly distributed particle phase is exemplified using a step-like channel geometry with a horizontally embedded strainer plate.