Christophe Vallée

Bio: Christophe Vallée is an academic researcher from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. The author has contributed to research in topics: Slug flow & Two-phase flow. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 20 publications receiving 346 citations.

Experiments and Numerical Simulations of Horizontal Two-Phase Flow Regimes Using an Interfacial Area Density Model:

Abstract: Stratified two-phase flow regimes can occur in the main cooling lines of Pressurized Water Reactors, Chemical plants and Oil pipelines. A relevant problem occurring is the development of wavy stratified flows, which can lead to slug generation. In the last decade, stratified flows have increasingly been modelled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. In CFD, closure models are required that must be validated. Recent improvements of the multiphase flow modelling in the ANSYS CFX code, now make it possible to simulate these mechanisms in detail. In order to validate existing and further developed multiphase flow models, a high spatial and temporal resolution of measurement data are required. For the experimental investigation of co-current air/water flows, the HA WAC (Horizontal Air/Water Channel) was built. The channel allows in particular the study of air/water slug flow under atmospheric pressure. Parallel to the experiments, CFD calculations were carried out. The two-fluid model was applied with a special turbulence damping procedure at the free surface. An Algebraic Interfacial Area Density (AIAD) model based on the implemented mixture model was introduced, which allows the detection of the morphological form of the two-phase flow and the corresponding switching via a blending function of each correlation from one object pair to another . As a result, this model can distinguish between bubbles, droplets and the free surface using the local value of the volume fraction of the liquid phase. The behaviour of slug generation and propagation was qualitatively reproduced by the simulation, while local deviations require a continuation of the work.

Image-Processing-Based Study of the Interfacial Behavior of the Countercurrent Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in a Hot Leg of a PWR

Abstract: The interfacial behavior during countercurrent two-phase flow of air-water and steam-water in a model of a PWR hot leg was studied quantitatively using digital image processing of a subsequent recorded video images of the experimental series obtained from the TOPFLOW facility, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR), Dresden, Germany. The developed image processing technique provides the transient data of water level inside the hot leg channel up to flooding condition. In this technique, the filters such as median and Gaussian were used to eliminate the drops and the bubbles from the interface and the wall of the test section. A Statistical treatment (average, standard deviation, and probability distribution function (PDF)) of the obtained water level data was carried out also to identify the flow behaviors. The obtained data are characterized by a high resolution in space and time, which makes them suitable for the development and validation of CFD-grade closure models, for example, for two-fluid model. This information is essential also for the development of mechanistic modeling on the relating phenomenon. It was clarified that the local water level at the crest of the hydraulic jump is strongly affected by the liquid properties.