• Access to Exceptional Research Activities


  • 1

Water Model MyrrhaBelle

The MYRRHABELLE facility is a full Plexiglas water model at a scale 1/5 of the primary circuit of MYRRHA research reactor (design version 1.2). It has been named MYRRHABELLE for MYRRHA Basic SEt-up for Liquid FLow Experiments. It was designed and constructed at VKI, in collaboration with SCK•CEN.

The model follows the in-vessel design of MYRRHA. It combines the lower plenum and the upper plenum with the diaphragm separating the two plenums. It is equipped in the center with 16 electrical heaters to simulate the reactor core (maximum heating capacity of 48 kW), with two immersed pumps and with four water-cooled heat exchangers located in the upper plenum (each with a maximum cooling capacity of 12 kW). The free surface of the water model is at atmospheric pressure.

The water model is designated for a nominal water flow rate of 5.6 liter/s but the flow rate can be increased to 10 liter/s. The maximum T that is allowed during the tests is limited to 30°C (constraint on the Plexiglas). Based on these values, it is possible to simulate a Richardson number between 0.1 and 70 when performing water experiments.

CAD geometry of the water model
Water model of the research reactor Myrhha
Numerical simulation of the flow field