Modelling of Pressure Fluctuation With Cross Flow in a Tight-Lattice Rod Bundle

An approximate model is presented which permits the prediction in detail of the unsteady differential pressure fluctuation behavior between subchannels in the nuclear reactor core. The instantaneous fluctuation of differential pressure between two subchannels in gas-liquid slug flow regime is deemed as a result of the intermittent nature slug flow in each subchannel. The model is based on the detailed numerical simulation result of two-phase flow that pressure drop occurs mainly in liquid slug region and in the bubble region it is negligibly small. The instantaneous fluctuation of differential pressure between the two subchannels is associated with pressure gradient in the liquid slug for each channel. In addition to a hydrostatic gradient, acceleration and frictional gradients are taken into account to predict pressure gradient in the liquid slug. This model temporarily used in conjunction with the numerical simulation code works satisfactorily to reproduce numerical simulation results for instantaneous fluctuation of differential pressure between two modeled subchannels.