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Study of the possibility of high accuracy flow measurements with the pulsed neutron activation method

  • A. Nordlund EMAIL logo , S. Avdic and N. Kaiser
Published/Copyright: March 17, 2022
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Abstract

The performance of water flow measurements with pulsed neutron activation (PNA) have been investigated in the past few years. In this report the following particular Problems were investigated: (a) the effect of collimation on the time-resolved detector signals; (b) the behavior of the background signal, in order to expedite optimum background elimination from the measured signals; and (c) the properties of water mixing, by measuring the geometrical asymmetry of the activated volume as a function of distance from the source as well as of flow velocity. It was seen that with the flow velocities and Reynolds numbers in the present experiments, the mixing is not perfect. Thus, in general, the PNA method will lead to an underestimation of the mass flow due to the effect of the laminar layer close to the wall whose contribution to the total mass flow will be enhanced. The investigations reported here contribute to the improvement of the accuracy of the method.

Abstract

Die Durchführung von Strömungsmessungen mit Hilfe gepulster Neutronenaktivierung (PNA) ist in den letzten Jahren untersucht worden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden insbesondere folgende Problemstellungen untersucht: (a) die Auswirkung der Kollimierung auf die Zeit-aufgelösten Detektorsignale; (b) das Verhalten des Hintergrundsignals; und (c) die Mischungseigenschaften von Wasser anhand von Messungen der geometrischen Asymmetrie des aktivierten Volumens als Funktion des Abstandes von der Quelle und der Strömungsgeschwindigkeit. Mit den Strömungsgeschwindigkeiten und Reynoldszahlen der gegenwärtigen Experimente konnte kein ideales Mischen erreicht werden. Deshalb unterschätzt diese Methode im allgemein den Massenfluss durch den Einfluss der laminaren Schicht nahe der Wand, deren Beitrag bei turbulenter Strömung vernachlässigt wird. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse verbessern die Genauigkeit dieser Methode.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank R. Rydz, L. Norberg and L. Urholm for their help and support with the experimental setup.

Thanks also to Prof. Imre Pázsit for valuable help and comments. The support by Göteborg Energi Forskningsstiftelse is acknowledged.

References

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Received: 2000-10-05
Published Online: 2022-03-17

© 2001 Carl Hanser Verlag, München

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