Investigation of aerosol transportation phenomena in pool scrubbing by combining bubble plume measurements and single-bubble mass transfer analysis

The fission product filtration capability of pool scrubbing is an uncertain factor in severe accident risk analysis. Limited discussions on aerosol transportation phenomena exist due to insufficient understanding of aerosol mass transfer from single bubbles and bubble plume behavior. This study aims to investigate aerosol transportation during pool scrubbing by integrating individual bubble mass transfer into the overall bubble plume. Decontamination factor (DF) measurements were conducted for various nozzle submergences, followed by analysis of bubble diameter distributions in the corresponding bubble plume. Findings revealed that the MELCOR model overestimates bubble break-up, contrary to the expected positive impact on DF. To address this discrepancy, a computational fluid dynamics simulation was employed to analyze mass transfer coefficients considering different bubble diameters and aerosol properties. By integrating the mass transfer of single bubbles, the discrepancy in the DF tendencies was attributed to the underestimation of aerosol mass transfer coefficients in individual bubbles.

Automated summary

This study investigates aerosol transportation during pool scrubbing and finds that the mass transfer capability of bubbles has a significant impact on the decontamination factor of aerosols.