Dynamics of the gas phase in a fuel-rod assembly simulator with a spacing grid

An experimental study of two-phase flow in a model of assembly of 37 fuel rods in a triangular arrangement was performed. Measurements were performed with local gas supply through a unit nozzle. Distributions of the local void fraction were obtained at various values of angular coordinate and distance from a spacing grid. It was shown that most of the gas phase moves in a space produced by the walls of three nearby rods. A significant increase of gas phase concentration takes place in the flow region just after the grid.