Multiphase flows in industrial applications - experiments and CFD simulations

The last decade has seen an increasing use of three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes to predict steady state and transient flows in industrial applications because a number of important phenomena such as slugging, pressurized thermal shocks, coolant mixing, and thermal striping cannot be predicted by traditional one-dimensional system codes with the required accuracy and spatial resolution. CFD codes contain models for simulating turbulence, heat transfer, multi-phase flows, and chemical reactions. Such models must be validated before they can be used with sufficient confidence in industrial applications. The necessary validation is performed by comparing model results against measured data. The multipurpose thermalhydraulic test facility TOPFLOW was designed at FZD to investigate stationary and transient phenomena in two-phase flows with the purpose of development and validation of models used in CFD codes. In addition, for the experimental investigation of horizontal two phase flows, different non pressurized channels and the Hot Leg Model in a pressure chamber were built and the experimental results compared with numerical simulations. Our partner for CFD code qualification is ANSYS CFX. Based on this partnership physical models which are developed are implemented into the code and thus contribute to the code qualification.