Experimental investigation of quench and re-wetting temperatures of hot horizontal tubes well above the limiting temperature for solid–liquid contact

Quench cooling of a hot dry surface involves the rapid decrease in surface temperature resulting from bringing the hot surface into sudden contact with a coolant at a lower temperature. Quench temperature is the onset of the rapid decrease in surface temperature and corresponds to the onset of destabilization of a vapor film that exists between the hot surface and the coolant. Situations involving quench cooling are encountered in a number of postulated accidents in Canada Deuterium Uranium CANDU reactors, such as the quench of a hot calandria tube in certain Loss of Coolant Accidents LOCA. If the calandria tube temperature is not reduced by initiation of quench heat transfer, then this may lead to subsequent fuel channel failure and for this accident knowledge of quench heat transfer characteristics is of great importance. In this study, a Water Quench Facility WQF has been designed and built at the Thermal Processing Laboratory TPL at McMaster University and a series of experimental tests were carried out to investigate the quench of hot horizontal tubes using a vertical rectangular water multi-jet system. The tubes were heated to a temperature between 380 and 780°C then cooled to the jet temperature. The temperature variation with time in tube circumferential and axial directions was measured. The two-phase flow behavior and the propagation of the re-wetting front around and along the tubes were simultaneously observed using a high-speed camera. The effects of initial surface temperature, water subcooling (in the range 15–80°C) and jet velocity (in the range 0.15–1.60m/s) on the quench process were investigated. The quench and the re-wetting temperature (the temperature at which the liquid establishes wet contact with the solid) were found to greatly depend on water subcooling. One of the main findings in this study is the existence of a critical water subcooling range within which any small change in water subcooling has a considerable effect on both the quench and the re-wetting temperatures. Empirical correlations have been developed and provided good fit of the experimental data and agreed well with correlations developed by other researchers for curved surfaces. The quench temperature was found to decrease by increasing surface curvature and solid thermal conductivity. However, the re-wetting temperature is a weak function of both variables. Effect of spatial location on the surface of the tube was also studied. The stagnation point showed higher quench and re-wetting temperatures compared to other locations on the tube surface.