Study on the Calculation of Interphase Drag Force Based on Liquid Metal-Gas Two-Phase Flow

Abstract The steam generator (SG) is the core equipment for heat transfer of lead-based fast reactor. Due to the large temperature difference and pressure difference between both sides of the SG heat transfer tube bundle, the steam generator tube rupture accident (SGTR) may occur. After the SGTR accident, the high-pressure water on the secondary side enters the primary side and is heated to generate a large number of bubbles, which would threaten the nuclear safety. Therefore, it is essential to predict the void fraction in liquid metal-gas two-phase flow. An accurate calculation of interphase drag force is the key to predicting the void fraction. To achieve this, this paper experimentally studies the characteristics of liquid Lead Bismuth Eutectic (LBE)-gas two-phase flow in a vertical pipe with diameter of 9 cm and length of 2 m, calculates the drag force by drift velocity method with different model parameters and adopts one dimensional two-fluid model with the four order Runge-Kutta method for predicting the void fraction. This paper obtains the predicted void fraction under different gas phase fluxes and discusses the influence of key model parameters on the calculation.