Experimentally Validated Potential Theory Approach for Investigation of the Flow Field Structure of an Open Pool of a Nuclear Reactor

Detailed information on the flow field structure is often important in numerous industrial applications. Although commercial computational fluid dynamics packages are often capable of providing the required data, they are costly and not universally available. This study was motivated by the operation of an open-pool nuclear research reactor where low radiation levels can be maintained by the installation of a stable purified hot water layer in the upper part of the pool. Maintaining a stable stratification requires a detailed description of the structure of the velocity field. Due to the inherent complications and restrictions of performing accurate measurements in a pool of a real-size operating reactor, either smaller-scale models or oversimplified fluid dynamics computational schemes are routinely used. These methods cannot be validated, and therefore do not necessarily capture the large-scale behavior correctly.