Isao Kataoka, Kenji Yoshida, Masanori Naitoh, Hidetoshi Okada and Tadashi Morii

Osaka University, The Institute of Applied Energy, Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization

Japan

1. Introduction

The accurate prediction of thermal hydraulic behavior of gas-liquid two-phase flow is quite important for the improvement of performance and safety of a nuclear reactor. In order to analyze two-phase flow phenomena, various models such as homogeneous model, slip model, drift flux model and two-fluid model have been proposed. Among these models, the two-fluid model (Ishii (1975), Delhaye (1968)) is considered the most accurate model because this model treats each phase separately considering the phase interactions at gas-liquid interfaces. Therefore, nowadays, two-fluid model is widely adopted in many best estimate codes of nuclear reactor safety. In two-fluid model, averaged conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy are formulated for each phase. The conservation equations of each phase are not independent each other and they are strongly coupled through interfacial transfer terms of mass, momentum and energy through gas-liquid interface. Interfacial transfer terms are characteristic terms in two-fluid model and are given in terms of interfacial area concentration (interfacial area per unit volume of two-phase flow) Therefore, the accurate knowledge of interfacial area concentration is quite essential to the accuracy of the prediction based on two-fluid model and a lot of experimental and analytical studies have been made on interfacial area concentration. In conventional codes based on two-fluid model, interfacial area concentration is given in constitutive equations in terms of Weber number of bubbles or droplets depending upon flow regime of two-phase flow (Ransom et al. (1985), Liles et al. (1984)). However, recently, more accurate and multidimensional predictions of two-phase flows are needed for advanced design of nuclear reactors. To meet such needs for improved prediction, it becomes necessary to give interfacial area concentration itself by solving the transport equation. Therefore, recently, intensive researches have been carried out on the models, analysis and experiments of interfacial area transport throughout the world

In view of above, in this chapter, intensive review on recent developments and present status of interfacial area concentration and its transport model will be carried out.