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The aim of this work is to investigate experimentally the increase of mixing phenomenon in a coolant flow in order to improve the heat transfer, the economical operation and the structural integrity of Light Water Reactors-Pressurized Water Reactors (LWRs-PWRs). Thus the parameters related to the heat transfer process in the system will be investigated. Data from a set of experiments, obtained by using high precision measurement techniques, Particle Image Velocimetry and Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PIV and PLIF, respectively) are to improve the basic understanding of turbulent mixing phenomenon and to provide data for CFD code validation. The coolant mixing phenomenon in the head part of a fuel assembly which includes spacer grids has been investigated (the fuel simulator has half-length of a VVER 440 reactor fuel). The two-dimensional velocity vector and temperature fields in the area of interest are obtained by PIV and PLIF technique, respectively. The measurements of the turbulent flow in the regular tube channel around the thermocouple proved that there is rotation and asymmetry in the coolant flow caused by the mixing grid and the geometrical asymmetry of the fuel bundle. Both PIV and PLIF results showed that at the level of the core exit thermocouple the coolant is homogeneous. The discrepancies that could exist between the outlet average temperature of the coolant and the temperature at in-core thermocouple were clarified. Results of the applied techniques showed that both of them can be used as good provider for data base and to validate CFD results.

Thermal fatigue and pressurized thermal shock phenomena are the main problems for the reactor pressure vessel and the T-junctions both of them depend on the mixing of the coolant. The mixing process, flow and temperature distribution has been investigated experimentally using particle image velocimetry, laser induced fluorescence, and simulated by CFD tools. The obtained results showed that the ratio of flow rate between the main pipe and the branch pipe has a big influence on the mixing process. The particle image velocimetry/planar laser-induced fluorescence measurements technologies proved to be suitable for the investigation of turbulent mixing in the complicated flow system: both velocity and temperature distribution are important parameters in the determination of thermal fatigue and pressurized thermal shock. Results of the applied these techniques showed that both of them can be used as a good provider for data base and to validate CFD results.