Interfacial Drag Force Improvement in Two-Fluid Model

Interfacial drag force, which indicates the momentum transfer between liquid phase and vapor phase, is a key constitutive equation in the two-fluid model. Based on the “drift-velocity approach” (utilized in RELAP5/MOD3) and the “drag coefficient approach” (utilized in RELAP5/MOD2 and CTF), three improvements are proposed, which are: 1) improved drag coefficient closure, 2) improved drag coefficient formulation approach, 3) improved bubble radius closure approach. The comparison among the two original approaches and the three improved approaches has been made with the ORNL experiment data in high pressure-low flow condition and the results have been discussed. Results indicates: 1) the EPRI correlation predicts the void fraction worse than the drag coefficient approaches; 2) the drag coefficient correlations in CTF predicts the void fraction better than improved drag coefficient formulation approach, which are the original equations in Ishii’s model; 3) the improved drag coefficient formulation approach predicts similarly with the original RELAP5/MOD2 correlations, though it gets rid of the dependence on interfacial area concentration; 4) improved bubble radius closure approach over-predicts the void fraction, however more experiment tests should be calculated before a conclusion is drawn.