TWO-EQUATION TURBULENCE MODELING OF AN UPPER-PLENUM WATER POOL ABOVE A HORIZONTAL PERFORATED PLATE WITH STEAM CONDENSATION

The PHOENICS code is used to simulate the flow and heat transfer in an upper—plenum water pool above a horizontal perforated plate through which steam is injected. At high steam velocities no water falls downwards through the holes, but as the steam velocity is reduced, the steam region in the plenum is reduced to "flame-like" steam jets, which can be modeled as point boundary sources of momentum, mass and heat. When the length of the jets is reduced to about 2-3 hole diameters, water leakage downwards, characterized as "weeping", begins. A k-ε turbulence model was used to predict the velocities and temperatures in a narrow pool between two flat glass plates. Reasonably good agreement between calculations and experiment is shown.