Dual-Orthogonal-Plane Particle Image Velocimetry Measurement of the Turbulent Flow in the Channel Head of a Large-Scale Steam Generator Mockup

In this work, a large-scale mockup of a compact complex system integrating a steam generator (SG) and a reactor coolant pump (RCP) is considered. The three-dimensional turbulent flow in the steam generator channel head (SGCH) is measured in detail. Dual-orthogonal-plane particle image velocimetry (PIV) is employed to extract high-resolution flow information in two orthogonal planes. Two separate measurements are first made to see the three-dimensional time-mean flow dynamics and the statistical quantities in the two planes. These measurements highlight two distinct flow phenomena: jet arrays and massive turbulent separation bubbles (TSBs). These patterns are attributed to mass flow redistribution in the U-shaped tubes. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) identifies the first POD mode as corresponding to the TSB breathing-like motion, which significantly intensifies the side view streamwise velocity fluctuations, leading to them reaching 370% of the local mean velocity. To examine the unsteady behavior of massively separated regions, the dual-orthogonal-plane PIV system is then synchronized to simultaneously measure variations in the flow fields, and the missing data due to illumination interference are reconstructed using gappy POD. The synchronized analysis reveals a direct relationship between the low-frequency fluctuations in the side and front views. These fluctuations are in phase across both views, indicating a synchronized behavior that spans the entire field. This large-scale low-frequency breathing motion has critical implications for numerical simulations and sheds light on the unsteady behavior of the RCP system within the SGCH.