International Conference

Nuclear Energy for New Europe 2006

Portoro, Slovenia, September 18-21, 2006

http://www.djs.si/port2006

Condensation of The Steam in The Horizontal Steam Line During

Cold Water Flooding
Luka trubelj, Iztok Tiselj
Joef Stefan Institute
Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
luka.strubelj@ijs.si, iztok.tiselj@ijs.si
ABSTRACT
Direct contact condensation and condensation induced water-hammer in a horizontal
pipe was experimentally investigated at PMK-2 test facility of the Hungarian Atomic Energy
Research Institute KFKI. The experiment is preformed in the horizontal section of the steam
line of the PMK-2 integral test facility. As liquid water floods the horizontal part of the
pipeline, the counter current horizontally stratified flow is being observed. During the
flooding of the steam line, the vapour-liquid interface area increases and therefore the vapour
condensation rate and the vapour velocity also increase. Similar phenomena can occur in the
cold/hot leg of the primary loop of PWR nuclear power plant during loss of coolant accident,
when emergency core cooling system is activated. Water level at one cross-section and four
local void fraction and temperature at the top of steam line was measured and compared with
simulation. Condensed steam increases the water temperature that is why the local
temperature measurements are the most important information, from which condensation rate
can be estimated, since mass of condensed steam was not measured. Free surface simulation
of the experiment with thermal phase change model is presented. Surface renewal concept
with small eddies is used for calculation of heat transfer coefficient. With surface renewal
theory we did not get results similar to experiment, that is why heat transfer coefficient was
increased by factor 20. In simulation with heat transfer coefficient calculated with surface
renewal concept bubble entrapment is due to reflection of the wave from the end of the pipe.
When heat transfer coefficient is increased, condensation rate and steam velocity are also
increased, bubble entrapment is due to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of the free surface, and
the results become similar to the measurements.
1

INTRODUCTION

One of the most important phenomena in the nuclear thermal-hydraulics is behaviour of

the cold Emergency Core Cooling (ECC) water injected from the top or from the bottom into
the horizontal section of the hot leg near the reactor vessel during the loss of coolant accident.
Condensation of the steam in the horizontal steam line, also called Direct Contact
Condensation (DCC) is present during cold water flooding.
Only a limited analytical approach to the problem of Direct Contact Condensation in
horizontal stratified flow is possible, therefore experiments are necessary. There were a lot of
experiments done to analyze and understand the DCC phenomena. Several integral
correlations were developed with Nusselt number as function of liquid Prandtl and Reynolds
number and gas Reynolds number. Two frequently used correlations for heat and mass
transfer during the DCC in stratified flow were derived from experimental results by Lim
et.al. [1] and Kim, Lee and Bankoff [2]. All integral correlations are valid only in specified
619.1

619.2

range of parameters and geometry. More precise modelling can be done with Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes, where local correlations with one of techniques for simulation
of stratified flow are used.
Various techniques for multidimensional simulations of stratified flows are described in
the literature. Several review papers can be found in "Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics":
Tsai and Yue [3] discuss computation of free-surface flows with interface tracking algorithms
mainly from the standpoint of maritime and ocean engineering. Among the volumediscretization methods, which are considered to be relevant for the modelling of the DCC, the
most important techniques for the interface tracking (IT) are: VOF method reviewed by
Scardovelli and Zaleski [4], level-set method reviewed by Sethian and Smereka [5], and the
method of Unverdi and Tryggvason [6]. All these methods consider the interface as a physical
discontinuity, although Unverdi and Tryggvason [6] applied a numerically diffuse description
of the interface. The assumption of the sharp-interface is not always appropriate (Anderson et.
al., [7]) as the thickness of the interface may not be negligible comparing to the relevant
scales especially near the critical temperature. Anderson et. al. [7] presents a review of the
models and methods, which can be applied for simulations of diffuse-interfaces of finite
thickness. An innovative approach by Lakehal et. al. [8] based on pseudo-spectral DNS of
turbulent wavy flow at low Reynolds number is to be mentioned, as a very accurate tool, but
like all today's DNS studies - limited to a narrow range of flows. Another option for
multidimensional simulations of two-phase flows is a two-fluid model, which can be found
mainly in 1D nuclear thermal-hydraulic codes. However, the multidimensional two-fluid
models with suitable algorithms for tracking of the "major" interfaces, might be an alternative
to the pure interface tracking methods, which fail when the surface characteristic scales
become comparable or smaller than the grid size (see Yadigaroglu, [9], for discussion about
two-fluid and interface tracking models of two-phase flow). An example of such two-fluid
model is used in CFD code CFX, which was used by Mouza et. al. [10] for simulation of the
3D wavy stratified flow without condensation on ~60000 grid points. Berthelsen and Ytrehus
[11] performed 2D simulation of stratified flow in a pipe without condensation, assuming
steady-state turbulent flow without condensation. A further example of multidimensional twofluid model for stratified flow can be found in a paper by Line and Lopez [12], where only 1D
results for wavy stratified flow are shown. Simulations of stratified flow with a 2D two-fluid
model are further performed by Yao et. al. [13], who made simulations of stratified flow with
and without the condensation.
Several attempts to model DCC can be found in the literature. Hughes and Duffey [14]
introduced a "surface renewal theory" for DCC in turbulent separated flow, which points to an
important role of the turbulence in the liquid layer. Experiments and models of DCC in a
rectangular duct and rectangular tank were later described by Lorencez et. al. [15] and
Mikielewicz et. al. [16], respectively. Especially Lorencez et. al. [15] with their sophisticated
experiment made a detailed measurement of the turbulence near the free surface and clarified
the impact of the turbulence on the interfacial heat and mass transfer coefficients. 2D CFD
simulations of ECC injection of subcooled water into horizontally stratified hot leg flow were
performed by Coste [17] using two-fluid model with interfacial heat and mass transfer model
based on surface renewal concept. COSI experiment was simulated by Boucker [18] with
program NEPTUNE [19], where surface renewal model for condensation was implemented in
slightly different way as in our simulation.
2

EXPERIMENT

A set of experiments with improved vapour volume fraction measurement was run at
Hungarian KFKI experimental device PMK-2 (Prasser et. al. [20] and [21]) within the
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619.3

WAHALoads project of the 5th EU research program. Attempts to describe the KFKI
experiment with the 1D two-fluid model of the WAHA code (Tiselj et. al. [22]) pointed to
large uncertainties of the simulations related to the model of stratified-to-slug flow transition
and correlations for interfacial heat, mass and momentum transfer. Gale [23], [24] smoothen
transition from stratified to disperse flow in WAHA Code and improved agreement of
simulation with KFKI experiment.
Test section of the water hammer facility consists of a 2.87 m long horizontal pipe with
inner diameter 73 mm. Steam generator supplies vapour for the test section through the
vapour inlet head which extends the horizontal test section for 0.2 m and serves as a 90 degree
bend and as an inertia block (mass 200 kg). Liquid inlet head geometry is similar to the
vapour inlet head. Steam-line section connected to the condenser is isolated in the water
hammer experiment. The supply of cold water is obtained with a 75 litre water tank
pressurized with nitrogen and connected to the bottom of the vertical steam-line section below
the liquid inlet head. Water is injected thru pipe with inner diameter of 24 mm by opening the
valve in the injection line.
All together, 35 water hammer experiments at the PMK-2 device were performed, at
initial steam pressures between 10 and 40 bar and at tank water temperatures between 17 and
140 0C. Cold water mass flow rates were between 0.7 and 1.7 kg/s. Before the start of each
experiment the whole construction was heated with steam for a few hours. Steam pressure in
the pipe and water tank flow rate can be considered as constant during the transient.
2.1

Experimental results

Experiments performed at PMK-2 are described in the reports by Prasser et. al [20,21].
The most important results for the present paper are actually local void and temperature
measurements, and not the water hammer pressure peaks. From the local void measurements
and wire mesh sensor entrapment of the vapour bubble can be seen. The reason for the bubble
entrapment can not be explained from experiment data. Two reasons are possible: entrapment
is due to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, because relative velocity is high enough that free
surface gets in touch with upper pipe wall; and other possibility is entrapment of the steam
bubble due to the wave reflection from the end of the pipe.
It is important to stress the rather large uncertainty of the experiments - especially the
maximum pressure peaks recorded: two experiments performed at very similar initial
conditions can give very different pressure peaks with a difference of factor ~2 not
uncommon.
3

SIMULATION

CFX-5.7 was used for 2D simulation of experiment. The domain was discretized with a
structured grid. More about models and numerical methods can be found in CFX
documentation [25]. Initial and boundary conditions are the same as in the experiment and
can be seen in figure 1.
Continuity, homogeneous momentum (one) and two energy equations were solved.
Turbulence was modelled with k- turbulence model. The interphase mass source per unit
volume is calculated as = m& A , where interphase area density is calculated as A = .
Interphase mass flow rate per unit interfacial area is calculated as:
m& =

HTC L (Tsat TL )
,
hV , sat hL

Proceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, 2006

(1)

619.4

where HTCL stands for liquid heat transfer coefficient, hL for liquid enthalpy, hV,sat for
saturation enthalpy of vapour, TL for liquid temperature and Tsat = Tsat ( p ) for saturation
temperature. The heat transfer coefficient is calculated using surface renewal theory
introduced by Hughes and Duffey [13]:
a
HTC L = 2 L c p , L L

1/ 2

L / L

1/ 4

(2)

where aL= L /(L cp,L) is thermal diffusivity, L liquid density, cp,L liquid specific heat capacity
at constant pressure, L conduction, L viscosity and turbulence dissipation modelled with k turbulence model. Liquid and vapour are modelled as a compressible and temperature
dependent phases.
Pipe length L=2.87 m
Pipe diameter D=73 mm
T1
258

735

T2

574

T4

T3
578

Steam tank
p=14.5 bar
TV=470 K

Steam, TV=470 K

Cold water
injection
p=14.5 bar
m& =1.01 kg/s
TL=295 K

d=24 mm

Figure 1: Initial and boundary conditions in simulation.

Surface evolution (see fig. 2) was observed during the transient. The pictures are not in
real aspect ratio (2870 mm : 73 mm). The results with original surface renewal model showed
that reflection of the wave from end of pipe is the mechanism that leads to the slug
appearance and rapid condensation of the bubble entrapped by the slug. The injected water
velocity is high enough to touch the top pipe wall and then the jet breaks.
Local vapour temperatures in the simulation are compared with measurements (see fig.
3). In figure 3 the sudden decrease of temperature is when the measuring point gets in touch
with water and in sudden decrease of temperature is when the measuring point gets in touch
with hot steam. In the experiment local measurements are at 4 different locations (see fig. 1).
With original surface renewal model temperature of the water in simulation is only slightly
increased; in experiment this temperature is significantly higher. Local temperature
measurement gives the only information about the amount of condensed steam, which is
mainly responsible for temperature rise of the cold water. From small temperature increase we
conclude that condensation was not as intense as in experiment.
Due to disagreement of simulation with experiment, heat transfer coefficient was
increased by factor 4. With this correction the agreement of local temperature and void
fraction with experiment is much better (figure 2). At measuring point T2 entrapment of the
bubble can be seen. From CFD simulation, where heat transfer was increased (see fig. 2, left),
it is seen that surface instability, believed to be Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (Thorpe [23],
simulated by trubelj and Tiselj [27]) is the mechanism that leads to bubble entrapment. Due
to increased condensation, the steam velocity is increased and also relative velocity of steam
in water is increased, that is why we believe that bubble entrapment is due to KelvinProceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, 2006

619.5

Helmholtz instability. On figure 2 (right) void fraction in simulation with original surface
renewal model and entrapment of the bubble due to refraction of the wave from the end of the
pipe is also seen.
One reason for disagreement of simulation with experiment could be used k-
turbulence model and calculated turbulence dissipation, which is used in condensation model.
Other reasons for disagreement of simulation with experiment could be not known turbulence
characteristic of water inflow and influence of wiremesh sensor and water hammer on
turbulence. In the future we will try to use different turbulence model, and use fine enough
mesh to describe the initial water inflow jet.

T1

T2

T3

T4

T1

T2

T3

T4

0.5 s
1.0 s
1.5 s
2.0 s
2.5 s
3.0 s
3.5 s
4.0 s
4.5 s
5.0 s
5.5 s
6.0 s
6.5 s
7.0 s
7.5 s
8.0 s
8.5 s
9.0 s
9.5 s
10.0 s

Figure 2: Void fraction in simulation (blue steam, red cold water) with increased heat transfer
coefficient (left) and original heat transfer coefficient (right) calculated with surface renewal theory;
different mechanisms for entrapment of bubble can be seen.

Proceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, 2006

619.6
200

experiment
increased

150

original

100
50

temperature [C]

temperature [C]

200

150
T2

100

experiment
50

increased

T1
0
0

10
time [s]

15

20

10
time [s]

15

20

15

20

200
temperature [C]

200
temperature [C]

original

150
T3

100

experiment
increased

50

150
T4

100

experiment
50

increased

original

original
0

0
0

10
time [s]

15

20

10
time [s]

Figure 3: Comparison of temperature in experiment and in simulation with original and increased
heat transfer coefficient at 4 local measurement points.

In the next set of experiments additional measurements were proposed: steam inflow (to
calculate condensation rate), local measurement of void and temperature at the bottom of the
pipe (propagation of water at the bottom) and an additional mesh-sensor (to measure the
velocity of free surface wave); which makes comparison with simulation more complete.
4

CONCLUSIONS

Experimental data do not contain any direct information about the mass flow rate of the
condensed steam. Although comparison with experiment is done, especially local temperature
measurements are compared with experiment, the temperature increase is mainly due to the
condensed steam.
With original surface renewal theory condensation rate and mass of condensed vapour
is much lower than in the experiment. With increased heat transfer coefficient the agreement
of local temperature and void fraction with experiment is significantly better. The
condensation rate significantly affects the flow pattern that is why surface instabilities and
Direct Contact Condensation must be modelled together. Bubble entrapment in the model
with increased heat transfer coefficient is due to surface instability (Kelvin-Helmholtz
instability), instead of reflection of the wave as in the model with original surface renewal
theory.
Possible reasons for disagreement of simulation with experiment are influence of
wiremesh sensor and water hammer on turbulence, inflow water turbulence characteristic and
used turbulence model. In the future we will try to reveal the physics behind the surprisingly
strong interfacial heat and mass transfer.

Proceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, 2006

619.7

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Proceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, 2006

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Proceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, 2006