Development of Prediction Technology of Two-Phase Flow Dynamics Under Earthquake Acceleration (6) Numerical Simulation of Bubble Deformation Near Wall Under Accelerating Condition

Earthquake is one of the most serious phenomena for safety of a nuclear reactor in Japan. Therefore, structural safety of nuclear reactors has been studied and nuclear reactors were contracted with structural safety for a big earthquake. However, it is not enough for safety operation of nuclear reactors because thermal-fluid safety is not confirmed under the earthquake. For instance, behavior of gas-liquid two-phase flow is unknown under the earthquake conditions. Especially, fluctuation of void faction is an important factor for the safety operation of the nuclear reactor. In the previous work, fluctuation of void faction in bubbly flow was studied experimentally and theoretically to investigate the stability of the bubbly flow. In such studies, flow rate or void fraction fluctuations were given to the steady bubbly flow. In case of the earthquake, the fluctuation is not only the flow rate, but also body force on the two-phase flow and shear force through a pipe wall. Interactions of gas and liquid through their interface also act on the behavior of the two-phase flow. The fluctuation of the void fraction is not clear for such complicated situation under the earthquake. Therefore, the behavior of gas-liquid two-phase flow is investigated experimentally and numerically in a series of study. In this study, to develop the prediction technology of two-phase flow dynamics under earthquake acceleration, a detailed two-phase flow simulation code with an advanced interface tracking method TPFIT was expanded to two-phase flow simulation under earthquake conditions. In this paper, outline of expansion of the TPFIT to simulate detailed two-phase flow behavior under the earthquake condition was shown. And the bubbly flow in a horizontal pipe excited by oscillation acceleration and under the fluctuation of the liquid flow was simulated by using expanded TPFIT. Predicted deformation of bubbles near wall was compared with measured results under flow rate fluctuation and structural vibration.Copyright © 2012 by ASME