Positron emission tomography in pebble beds. Part 1: Liquid particle deposition

Accidental scenarios such as the depressurisation of the primary circuit of high temperature gas cooled pebble bed reactors may lead to the release of fission products via the discharge of radioactive graphite dust. For a detailed source term assessment in such accident scenarios knowledge of the flow mechanics of dust transport in complex coolant circuit components, like pebble beds, recuperator structures and pipe systems is necessary. In this article an experimental study of aerosol deposition in a pebble bed is described. We investigated the deposition of radiolabelled liquid aerosol particles in a scaled pebble bed in an air-driven small-scale aerosol flow test facility under isothermal ambient conditions. The aerosol particles were generated by means of a condensational aerosol generator with potassium-fluoride (KF) condensation nuclei. Particle concentration measurements upstream and downstream of the pebble bed were performed by isokinetic sampling and particle counting. The results agree with typical deposition curves for turbulent and inertia driven particle deposition. Furthermore, positron emission tomography (PET) was performed to visualize and measure particle deposition distributions in the pebble bed. Results of a selected deposition experiment with moderately large particles (daero = 3.5 μm, Re′pb=2200) show that the deposited particles are located in the vicinity of the upstream stagnation points of the pebbles. These findings support the thesis that inertia driven particle deposition is predominating.