Experimental study on the pressure drop of helium purge gas in particle crushing pebble beds

• Pressure drop of helium gas in ceramic pebble bed was investigated experimentally. • Pressure drop across the pebble bed increases with the increase in pebble breakage rate. • A improved correlation for predicting the pressure drop of particle broken pebble bed is established by considering the pebble breakage rate. The solid breeder blanket is a critical component in fusion reactor, where helium purge gas flows through the solid breeder pebble bed to carry out the tritium generated during the fusion process. The flow pressure drop of helium purge gas within the breeder pebble bed is a significant parameter affecting the design of the tritium extraction system. Previous studies have indicated that the helium flow in the breeder pebble bed conforms to the theory of porous media flow. However, due to potential pebble breakage during the plasma operation, the pressure drop characteristics of the helium flow in breeder pebble bed may change as the void structure changes. The objective of this study is to measure the variation in flow pressure drop of the breeder pebble bed under different pebble crushing conditions. The flow pressure drops of intact beds (Alumina, diameter 1-1.2 mm) and four groups with different pebble breakage rates (3%, 5%, 7%, 9%) are measured using the pebble bed pressure drop test facility. The following results are obtained through experimental research: (1) The Ergun equation, Foumeny equation, and Reichelt equation can all reasonably match the experimental results of intact pebble beds; (2) The pressure drop across the pebble bed increases with the increase in pebble breakage rate, reaching approximately 1.6 times that of the intact bed at a 9% breakage rate; (3) A correlation for predicting the pressure drop of the broken pebble bed is established by introducing the pebble breakage rate ( η ) into the Ergun equation, which can be used to determine the pressure drop variation within a conservative range of breakage rates.