Experimental Thermal-Hydraulics Group

The experimental thermal-hydraulic activities are devoted to nuclear containment and primary circuit safety issues.

The containment investigations address basic containment phenomena and the mitigation effect of containment safety systems, under postulated DBA (Design Basic Accident), BDBA (Beyond DBA) and SA (Severe Accident) conditions.

The primary circuit investigations include flow in rod bundles for various bundle and spacer models, under single-phase and two-phase flow conditions aiming as application to the characterization and design optimization for the fuel rod spacers under normal operation conditions. Other investigations are focused to the characterization of mixing processes for fluid having different densities in channel flow.

The experimental facilities are equipped with state of art fluid dynamics instrumentation which include flow visualization techniques such as PIV, LIF, high speed cameras, infrared and near infrared techniques, and gas mixture concentration measurements using mass spectroscopy instruments. Moreover the development of measurement techniques based on fast neutrons is carried out for potential applications in prototypical fuel bundles and/or for material diagnostics.

The experimental activities are carried out in cooperation with other national and international Organizations such as Research Institutes, Universities, Regulators, TSO, Utilities and Vendors.

Educational programs (e.g. Ph.D. and MSc) are integrated into the experimental activities.