Experimental studies on upward-facing multi-nozzle spray cooling for external cooling of reactor pressure vessels with a four-nozzle system

To enhance the thermal safety limits, the present study experimentally investigates the performance of spray cooling on a downward-facing surface. The experiments were conducted on the KTH-SPAYCOR facility. It employs four pressure-swirl full-cone nozzles arranged in a 2 × 2 array to produce a multi-spray pattern on a thin SA302B foil with a relatively large surface area of 120 mm × 80 mm. The tests were carried out under steady-state conditions, achieved through stepwise increments in surface heat flux, until the onset of dry spots or ultimate burnout was detected. Seven tests were performed to examine the effects of nozzle-to-surface distance and the flowrate, while maintaining a fixed surface inclination angle of 30°. The cooling mechanism combines direct droplet impingement and flushing by water film. The experimental results demonstrated the potential applicability of the multi-nozzle array system for cooling large surface areas, such as the reactor pressure vessel lower head. Specifically, the cooling limit was observed to enhance with increasing NTSD and flowrate, reaching a peak value of 2.33 MW/m 2 at a flow rate of 13 lpm. However, a slight decline in the cooling limit was noted when the flowrate exceeded this optimal flowrate. Additionally, increasing NTSD and flowrate enhanced the uniformity of the heater temperature distribution. To demonstrate the system's performance under high heat flux conditions, the ultimate critical heat flux was measured at flow rates of 10 lpm and 13 lpm, yielding values at 1.97 MW/m 2 and 2.50 MW/m 2 , respectively.