Development of High Accurate Flow Nozzle for Feedwater Flowrate Measurement in Nuclear Power Plant

The high accurate throat tap flow nozzle with four different diameter taps is developed and its discharge coefficients are measured in the Reynolds number range from 1.5×10⁶ to 1.4×10⁷ using the high Reynolds calibration facility of AIST,NMIJ. The discharge coefficient of a throat tap nozzle extrapolated according to ASME PTC 6 are confirmed to deviate 0.37% at Re_d=1.4×10⁷ from the experimental results. The high accurate flow nozzle developed can reduce this extrapolation error of the discharge coefficient to high Reynolds numbers by using the equations of discharge coefficients, which is determined as a function of Reynolds number and tap diameter based on the experimental results of four different diameter taps. The error of extrapolated discharge coefficient using the derived equations is estimated to be less than 0.1% at Re_d=1.4×10⁷. The present results show that the throat tap flow nozzle developed is expected to work as a high accurate flowmeter even under the extrapolation of the discharge coefficient toward high Reynolds numbers.