Contact

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Uwe Hampel

Head
Experimental Thermal Fluid Dynamics
u.hampel@hzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 2772

Joint Research Project SAVE: Safety related analysis of the behavior of valves, centrifugal pumps and intake geometries considering incident strains

Within the joint research project SAVE the behaviour of safety related components in critical operation conditions of light water reactors shall be analyzed and predicted. Here fundamental subjects are vortex formation in reservoirs arranged in front of pumps as well as effects of gas entrainment on system components like centrifugal pumps and valves. Therefore these components are analyzed in experiments in detail and modelled and simulated numerically. Existing simple and advanced models as well as new models for prediction shall be validated and if necessary improved. The results will be used for the design and dimensioning, optimization as well as revision of geometries of inlets and valves. Here one important aspect is the consideration of scale effects. Therefore experiments at different scales are performed.
HZDR is contributing by analysis and the visualization of gas-liquid phase distributions inside centrifugal pumps and valves. For theis purposes novel tomographic measuring methods with high spatial and temporal resolution will be applied, which were developed at the Institute of Fluid Dynamics at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf for the investigation of multiphase flows. In particular these are gamma-ray computed tomography and ultrafast X-ray tomography as well as wire mesh sensors.

Fig 1: (a) Experimental rig for tomographic investigations on multiphase flows in centrifugal pumps and valves. (b) Tomographic scan of the gas-liquid phase distribution inside an axial pump.

Funding

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
Title: Joint Research Project SAVE: Safety related analysis of the behavior of valves, centrifugal pumps and inlet geometries considering incident strains
project number: 02NUK023B
contract period: 2012, december 01 - 2016, december 31

Partners

  • Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Institut für Mehrphasenströmung
  • TÜV NORD SysTec GmbH & Co. KG
  • KSB Aktiengesellschaft

Further links

Joint Research Project SAVE