Feasibility study on Thermal Anemometry at LWR conditions

Abstract: Dryout and Departure from Nucleate boiling (DNB) are utmost thermal-hydraulic concerns for the safety of LWRs. The behavior of two-phase flows at these conditions is still not fully understood. There is at least a need for a good local velocity and void fraction database at these conditions. This database can be exploited by CFD codes, thereby leading to understanding and predicting DNB and boiling crisis. Since these conditions occur in LWR at pressures greater than 70 bar and temperatures above 285 $^oC$, most instrumentations fail at these conditions. So there is a need for developing or optimizing new instruments for this specific objective. This study will look into the application of Hot Wire Anemometry (HWA) for this application. Previous experiments at near saturation conditions were studied, the hurdles of application of HWA in the HWAT loop at KTH were also investigated. Finally, the deposition of thin film on the HWA sensors for protection was studied.