PIV measurements of turbulent flows in a 61-pin wire-wrapped hexagonal fuel bundle

Thien Nguyen, Nolan Goth, Philip Jones, Saya Lee, Rodolfo Vaghetto, Yassin Hassan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

88 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current work experimentally investigates the flow characteristics in the near-wall region of the 61-pin wire-wrapped hexagon fuel bundle via the matched-index-of-refraction technique. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were taken in the region near the surfaces of the pins, wires and enclosure wall at the Reynolds number of 19,000. From the obtained PIV velocity vector fields, flow statistics such as mean velocity and root-mean-square fluctuating velocity profiles were computed. In addition, spatial-temporal cross-correlations of velocity-velocity and pressure-velocity were analyzed. A strong correlation between the wall fluctuating pressure signal and flow structures was observed. Finally, we applied the POD analysis to the vorticity snapshots obtained in the near-wall region to reveal the dominant flow structures. It was found that the large-scale structures were elongated and aligned with the mean flow direction.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)47-59
Number of pages13
JournalInternational Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow
Volume65
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2017
Externally publishedYes

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