Experimental characterization of jet static forces impacting waste tank components

Abstract

Westinghouse Hanford Company plans to install mixer pumps in doubleshell waste tanks to mobilize and suspend settled sludge to allow eventual retrieval for treatment and permanent storage. The mixer pumps produce high momentum, horizontally directed jets that impact and mobilize the sludge and mix it into slurry for removal. There is concern that the force of the jet 1 may damage tank internal components in its path.. . Scaled experiments were conducted to characterize the velocity profiles of the floor jet and to quantify the drag coefficients and impact forces for three tank components: radiation dry well, air lift circulator, and steam coil. '(The scale model force measurement results show that drag coefficients agree with literature values and indicate that waste tank operations within the range of investigation will not encounter dramatic changes in drag coefficient with varying flow rate or distance from the nozzle.

The Role of Cohesive Particle Interactions on Solids Uniformity and Mobilization During Jet Mixing: Testing Recommendations

“…Others also studied bank erosion (Thorne 1981) and erosion by jets (Rajaratnam 1980(Rajaratnam , 1981(Rajaratnam , 1982Rajaratnam and Berry 1977;Rajaratnam and Beltaos 1977). In addition to mobilization, jet forces on in-tank components were studied (Allemann 1989;Bamberger 1992;Bamberger et al 1990aBamberger et al , 1992Bamberger et al , 1999cWaters and Heimbigner 1992).…”

“…A strategy was developed for a combined experimental and computational program (Bamberger et al 1990a;Liljegren and Bamberger 1992) that recommended scaled testing to be conducted in 1/12-and 1/4-scale models of a 1-million-gallon DST. The 1/12-scale test plan and test results were recently published Bamberger and Liljegren 1994;.…”

System design specification for the 1/4-scale tank and ancillary equipment

“…Prior to operationsin waste tanks, correlationsto describe equipment performancewill be determinedvia geometricallyscaled experiments. For example, scaled experimentsto model waste re-suspensionhave been conducted at bench-scale,laboratory-scale and at 1/12-scale,and scaled experimentsto develop correlationsof jet static forces impactingtank componentshave been conductedat I/6-scalewith a partial mockup Waters 1990 and1992). Distance f'_omtank centerlineto mixer pump centerline 0 to 6.7 m 0 to 1.7 m (0 to 22.0 ft) {0 to 5.5 ft)…”