Investigation of hydrodynamic parameters in a draft tube reactor using radioisotope based techniques and conventional method

In this study, various techniques were attempted to investigate flow dynamics in the enclosed reactor and the results from the techniques were compared. Radioactive particle tracking (RPT) and industrial single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) were carried out and the circulation times from them showed a deviation of 17.5%. The circulation time of the RPT was longer than that of SPECT, and it is speculated that the physical dimension of the/ fabricated radioactive particle creates the discrepancy. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were conducted. The velocity patterns from them were similar to each other in the entire reactor region except near the propeller installed at the bottom of the reactor.