Detection of gas entrainment into liquid metals

• We present liquid metal experiments dedicated to gas entrainment on the free surface.
• Ultrasonic and X-ray attenuation techniques have been used to study the mechanisms of gas entrainment.
• A comparison between bubbly flow in water and GaInSn showed substantial differences.
• Our results emphasize the importance of liquid metal experiments which are able to provide a suitable data base for numerical code validation.

Entrainment of cover gas into the liquid metal coolant is one of the principal safety issues in the design of innovative liquid metal-cooled fast reactors. We present generic experimental studies of this phenomenon in low-melting metals. Ultrasonic and X-ray diagnostic tools were considered for a visualization of gas entrainment at the free surface of the melt. Laboratory experiments were conducted using the eutectic alloy GaInSn, which is liquid at room temperature. Vortex-activated entrainment of air at the free surface of a rotating flow was revealed by ultrasonic techniques. X-ray radioscopy was used to visualize the behavior of argon bubbles inside a slit geometry. The measurements reveal distinct differences between water and GaInSn, especially with respect to the process of bubble formation and the coalescence and breakup of bubbles. Our results emphasize the importance of liquid metal experiments which are able to provide a suitable data base for numerical code validation.