An Investigation of Altered Transverse Transport of Axial Momentum in Coolant Flows During Oscillatory Instabilities

An investigation was carried out of the altered transverse transport of axial momentum in turbulent coolant flows during weak oscillatory instabilities of low frequency. Such instabilities can occur in two-phase flow systems, e.g., light water nuclear reactor cores. Solution of the governing momentum equation was obtained by both an integral transform method and a numerical method. Optimal modification of the steady-state eddy momentum diffusivity expression was carried out by minimizing the error between the experimentally measured and the predicted oscillatory axial velocity field.