Influence of Inlet Velocity Condition on Unsteady Flow Characteristics in Piping With a Short-Elbow at High Reynolds Number Condition

In design of the Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (JSFR), mean velocity of the coolant is approximately 9 m/s in the primary hot leg (H/L) piping which diameter is 1.27 m. The Reynolds number in the H/L piping reaches 4.2×10⁷. Moreover, a short-elbow which has R_c/D = 1.0 (R_c: Curvature radius, D: Pipe diameter) is used in the hot leg piping in order to achieve compact plant layout and reduce plant construction cost. In the H/L piping, flow-induced vibration (FIV) is concerned due to excitation force which is caused by pressure fluctuation on the wall closely related with the velocity fluctuation in the short-elbow. In the previous study, relation between the flow separation and the pressure fluctuations in the short-elbow was revealed under the specific inlet condition with flat distribution of time-averaged axial velocity and relatively weak velocity fluctuation intensity in the pipe. However, the inlet velocity condition of the H/L in a reactor may have ununiformed profile with highly turbulent due to the complex geometry in reactor vessel (R/V). In this study, the influence of the inlet velocity condition on unsteady characteristics of velocity in the short-elbow was studied. Although the flow around the inlet of the H/L in R/V could not simulate completely, inlet velocity conditions were controlled by installing the perforated plate with plugging the flow-holes appropriately. Then expected flow patterns were made at 2D upstream position from the elbow inlet in the experiments. It was revealed that the inlet velocity profiles affected circumferential secondary flow and the secondary flows affected an area of flow separation at the elbow, by local velocity measurement by the PIV (particle image velocimetry). And it was found that the low frequent turbulence in the upstream piping remained downstream of the elbow though their intensity was attenuated.