Visualization of Bubble Behavior in a Packed Bed of Spheres Using Neutron Radiography

The present paper describes gas-liquid two-phase flow measurements in a packed bed of spheres using neutron radiography. Porous debris formed during a severe accident of a nuclear reactor should be cooled by a coolant and the cooling characteristics are dominated by two-phase flow behavior in the debris bed at the initial stage of the accident. Therefore, experimental database of the two-phase flow in the porous media has been required for safety analysis of the reactor. However, it is difficult to observe the flow structure, for example, void fraction distribution in such complex flow channel. In this study, the local void fraction in a packed bed which simulates the debris bed was measured by high frame-rate neutron radiography. Experiments were performed in air-water two-phase flow in a vertical pipe. Alumina spheres with 5 mm in diameter were packed randomly in the pipe. The bubble behavior between the spheres was investigated by using the void fraction distributions estimated from the neutron radiographs. Although it was difficult to track the small bubbles in the packed bed, the move of the large bubble could be found roughly from the distribution. In addition, the fluctuation of the void fraction was compared with that of the pressure drop in the test section. From these results, the possibility of the gas velocity estimation was shown.