Machine Recognition of Void Fraction in Two-Phase Flows

Pattern recognition techniques were applied to the computation of void fraction values in two-phase steam/water mixtures. The void fraction is one of the principal parameters used to characterize the heat transfer properties of two-phase flows in the emergency cooling system of pressurized water reactors. The recognition approach reported here is based on moment descriptors extracted from the amplitude signal of an impedance probe. Using data obtained at the Advanced Instrumentation for Reflood Studies facility of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, it was shown that void fraction values could be consistently recognized with less than 10 percent error using data segments as short as 0.25 s in duration.