Quenching Studies on a Zircaloy Rod Bundle

Quenching data are presented for reflooding by cold water of zircaloy and stainless steel clad rod bundles. In particular a filling material (Al₂O₃) with thermophysical properties similar to UO₂ is used. The rods which are 1.1 mm in outside diameter and are 1.2 m high are arranged in a square lattice and are inductively heated. The experiments have been performed with initial rod surface temperatures up to 1400 K and flooding velocity varying over the range 1–30 cm/s. The subcooling of water at inlet was either 75 K or 50 K. Under identical flow conditions zircaloy is observed to quench faster than stainless steel. The quenching temperature and quench front velocity are found to increase with liquid subcooling and flooding velocity. The present data have been correlated and compared with existing models and correlations.