Numerical Simulation of Liquid Film Flow on Revolution Surfaces With Momentum Integral Method

The momentum integral method is applied in the frame of safety analysis of pressure water reactors under hypothetical loss of coolant accident(LOCA) conditions to simulate numerically film condensation, rewetting and vaporization on the inner surface of a pressure water reactor containment. From the conservation equations of mass and momentum of a liquid film arising from condensation of steam upon the inner of the containment during a LOCA in a pressure water reactor plant, an integro-differential equation is derived, referring to an arbitrary axisymmetric surface of revolution. This equation describes the velocity distribution of the liquid film along a meridian of a surface of revolution. From the integro-differential equation an ordinary differential equation of first order for the film velocity is derived and integrated numerically. From the velocity distribution the film thickness distribution is obtained. The solution of the enthalpy equation for the liquid film yields the temperature distribution on the inner surface of the containment.