Parametric study on density stratification erosion caused by a horizontal steam jet interacting with a vertical plate obstruction

During postulated severe accident scenarios in nuclear power plants, a hydrogen-rich layer might form at the top of the reactor containment. Various flow patterns resulting from the release of steam from the primary circuit might break the layer and redistribute hydrogen in the containment. The prediction of the gas transport during the accident requires detailed modeling of the processes involved. Advanced lumped parameter codes or computational fluid dynamics codes are used for this purpose. These codes need to be validated against experimental data obtained in large scale experimental facilities, where scale distortions are reduced. In order to obtain the required data with high spatial and temporal resolution, experiments were carried out in the PANDA facility in Switzerland as a part of OECD/HYMERES (HYdrogen Mitigation Experiments for Reactor Safety) project. The present experiments address the breakup of a layer rich in helium (used as simulant for hydrogen), under steam environment and its redistribution in two interconnected vessels (total volume of 183.3 m3) under the action of a diffused flow resulting from the interaction of a horizontal steam jet with a vertical plate obstruction. The influence of the distance between the jet exit and the obstruction on the flow pattern was investigated. Spatial and temporal distribution of the gas concentration, the temperature and local gas velocity field were measured. It was found that a small change in the geometric configuration lead to a large change in the flow pattern. Reducing the jet-obstruction distance slowed down the helium-layer erosion process by a factor of two. Additionally, the creation of a concentration stratification in the adjacent vessel connected by an interconnecting pipe was observed.