Instrumentation for liquid metal flows

The safe and reliable operation of liquid metal systems requires corresponding measuring systems and control units, both for the liquid metal single-phase flow as well as for bubble-laden liquid metal two-phase flows. However, velocity measurements in opaque liquid metal flows still represent a challenging task as commercial measuring systems are not available for such fluids.
The paper reports on established methods and new developments in the field of measuring techniques for liquid metal flows. The presentation is focussed on measurements of the flow rate and the local velocity field as well as on the characterization of liquid metal two-phase flows. During the last two decades considerable effort was spent by miscellaneous researcher groups to provide new solutions for measurements of flow fields in liquid metals. This paper intends to summarize different approaches and tempts to account on perspectives, particularly in view of some recent developments (ultrasonic techniques, magnetic tomography).