Measurement of secondary flow vortices in a rod bundle

Secondary flow vortices in infinite rod bundles have been predicted by a number of theoretical analyses. Nevertheless experimental verification was difficult, since the magnitude of the secondary velocities appeared to be less than the accuracy of the experimental techniques used. Only indications of the maximum velocity magnitude have been available but no report on successful direct measurement is known to the author. At ECN, laser Doppler velocimetry is successfully used for measurement of secondary flow vortices in two regular subchannels of a triangularly arranged bare rod bundle with pitch-to-diameter ratio PD = 1.3 under the Reynolds number conditions 60 000 and 175 000. One single secondary vortex, having the average tangential velocity slightly less than 0.1% of the mean bulk velocity, is resolved per minimum symmetry sector of the bundle geometry. Ensemble averages are made to obtain quantitative description of the vortex and to form a data base for comparison with calculations.