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This thesis reports the results of an experimental investigation of the effect of buoyancy forces on turbulent upflow of air in a vertical pipe under condit.io:1s of constant wall heat flux at Reynolds numbers of 5000 to 14000. Preliminary velocity and axial turbulence intensity measurements in isothermal flows for Reynolds numbers of 5000 to 32000 are also reported. Velocity and temperature distributions were measured over a range of heat fluxes at Reynolds numbers of approximately 5000 and 8000 and at a single heat flux at a Reynolds number of 14000.

In der Reaktorsicherheitsforschung sind auftriebsgetriebene Strömungen von Relevanz für Störfall-szenarien mit Verdünnung der Borkonzentration und für thermische Schockbelastungen des Reak-tordruckbehälters. In der numerischen Simulation der Strömungen werden neben der Berücksichtigung der Auftriebskräfte Quell- und Korrekturterme in die Bilanzgleichungen für die turbulente Energie und die turbulente Dissipation eingeführt. Es wurden erweiterte Modelle entwickelt, in die zusätzliche Gleichungen für die Turbulenzgrößen turbulenter Massenstrom und Dichtevarianz eingehen. Die Modelle wurden in den CFD-Code ANSYS-CFX implementiert. Die Validierung der Modelle erfolgte an einem speziellen Versuchsaufbau (VeMix-Versuchsanlage), mit Einspeisung von Fluid höherer Dichte in eine Vorlage. Als Kriterien für die Validierung wurde der Umschlag zwischen impulsdominiertem Strömungsregime mit vertikalem Jet oder ein vertikales Absinken bei Dominanz von Dichteeffekten herangezogen sowie lokale Konzentrationsmessungen mit Hilfe eines speziell entwickelten Leitfähigkeits-Gittersensors. Eine Verbesserung der Simulation dichtedominierter Vermischungsprozesse mit den erweiterten Turbulenzmodellen konnte allerdings nicht nachgewiesen werden, da die Unterschiede zwischen den Rechnungen mit verschiedenen Turbulenzmodellen zu gering sind. Andererseits konnte jedoch die Simulation der Stratifikation von Fluiden unterschiedlicher Dichte im kalten Strang einer Reaktoranlage deutlich verbessert werden. Anhand der Nachrechnung von Ver-suchen am geometrisch ähnlichen Reaktor-Strömungsmodell ROCOM wurde gezeigt, dass diese Stratifikation von bedeutendem Einfluss auf die Vermischung und somit letztendlich auch auf die Temperatur- bzw. Borkonzentrationsverteilung innerhalb des Reaktordruckbehälters ist. Sie lässt sich nur korrekt simulieren, wenn ausreichend große Abschnitte des kalten Stranges mit modelliert werden. Somit konnte doch eine bessere Vorhersagegenauigkeit der Simulation der Vermischung erreicht werden. In reactor safety research, buoyancy driven flows are of relevance for boron dilution accidents or pressurised thermal shock scenarios. Concerning the numerical simulation of these flows, besides of the consideration of buoyancy forces, source and correction terms are introduced into the balance equations for the turbulent energy and its dissipation rate. Within the project, extended turbulence models have been developed by introducing additional balance equations for the turbulent quantities turbulent mass flow and density variance. The models have been implemented into the computati-onal fluid dynamics code ANSYS-CFX. The validation of the models was performed against tests at a special experimental set-up, the VeMix facility, were fluid of higher density was injected into a vertical test section filled with lighter fluid. As validation criteria the switching-over between a momentum controlled mixing pattern with a horizontal jet and buoyancy driven mixing with vertical sinking down of the heavier fluid was used. Additionally, measurement data gained from an especially developed conductivity wire mesh sensor were used. However, an improvement of the modelling of buoyancy driven mixing by use of the extended models could not be shown, because the differences between calculations with the different models were not relevant. On the other hand, the modelling of the stratification of fluids with different density in the cold leg of a reactor primary circuit could be significantly improved. It has been shown on calculations of experi-ments at the ROCOM mixing test facility, a scaled model of a real reactor plant, that this stratification is relevant as a boundary condition for the mixing process inside the reactor pressure vessel. It can be correctly simulated only if sufficient large parts of the cold legs are included in the modelling. On this way, an improvement of the accuracy of the prediction of mixing processes was achieved.

In der Reaktorsicherheitsforschung sind auftriebsgetriebene Strömungen von Relevanz für Störfall-szenarien mit Verdünnung der Borkonzentration und für thermische Schockbelastungen des Reak-tordruckbehälters. In der numerischen Simulation der Strömungen werden neben der Berücksichtigung der Auftriebskräfte Quell- und Korrekturterme in die Bilanzgleichungen für die turbulente Energie und die turbulente Dissipation eingeführt. Es wurden erweiterte Modelle entwickelt, in die zusätzliche Gleichungen für die Turbulenzgrößen turbulenter Massenstrom und Dichtevarianz eingehen. Die Modelle wurden in den CFD-Code ANSYS-CFX implementiert. Die Validierung der Modelle erfolgte an einem speziellen Versuchsaufbau (VeMix-Versuchsanlage), mit Einspeisung von Fluid höherer Dichte in eine Vorlage. Als Kriterien für die Validierung wurde der Umschlag zwischen impulsdominiertem Strömungsregime mit vertikalem Jet oder ein vertikales Absinken bei Dominanz von Dichteeffekten herangezogen sowie lokale Konzentrationsmessungen mit Hilfe eines speziell entwickelten Leitfähigkeits-Gittersensors. Eine Verbesserung der Simulation dichtedominierter Vermischungsprozesse mit den erweiterten Turbulenzmodellen konnte allerdings nicht nachgewiesen werden, da die Unterschiede zwischen den Rechnungen mit verschiedenen Turbulenzmodellen zu gering sind. Andererseits konnte jedoch die Simulation der Stratifikation von Fluiden unterschiedlicher Dichte im kalten Strang einer Reaktoranlage deutlich verbessert werden. Anhand der Nachrechnung von Ver-suchen am geometrisch ähnlichen Reaktor-Strömungsmodell ROCOM wurde gezeigt, dass diese Stratifikation von bedeutendem Einfluss auf die Vermischung und somit letztendlich auch auf die Temperatur- bzw. Borkonzentrationsverteilung innerhalb des Reaktordruckbehälters ist. Sie lässt sich nur korrekt simulieren, wenn ausreichend große Abschnitte des kalten Stranges mit modelliert werden. Somit konnte doch eine bessere Vorhersagegenauigkeit der Simulation der Vermischung erreicht werden. In reactor safety research, buoyancy driven flows are of relevance for boron dilution accidents or pressurised thermal shock scenarios. Concerning the numerical simulation of these flows, besides of the consideration of buoyancy forces, source and correction terms are introduced into the balance equations for the turbulent energy and its dissipation rate. Within the project, extended turbulence models have been developed by introducing additional balance equations for the turbulent quantities turbulent mass flow and density variance. The models have been implemented into the computati-onal fluid dynamics code ANSYS-CFX. The validation of the models was performed against tests at a special experimental set-up, the VeMix facility, were fluid of higher density was injected into a vertical test section filled with lighter fluid. As validation criteria the switching-over between a momentum controlled mixing pattern with a horizontal jet and buoyancy driven mixing with vertical sinking down of the heavier fluid was used. Additionally, measurement data gained from an especially developed conductivity wire mesh sensor were used. However, an improvement of the modelling of buoyancy driven mixing by use of the extended models could not be shown, because the differences between calculations with the different models were not relevant. On the other hand, the modelling of the stratification of fluids with different density in the cold leg of a reactor primary circuit could be significantly improved. It has been shown on calculations of experi-ments at the ROCOM mixing test facility, a scaled model of a real reactor plant, that this stratification is relevant as a boundary condition for the mixing process inside the reactor pressure vessel. It can be correctly simulated only if sufficient large parts of the cold legs are included in the modelling. On this way, an improvement of the accuracy of the prediction of mixing processes was achieved.

Continental rifting is an important geodynamic process during which the Earth's outer-most rigid shell undergoes continuous stretching resulting in continental break-up and theformation of new oceanic basins. The East African Rift System, which has two continentalsegments comprising largely of the East African Rift (EAR) to the West and the easternmostsegment Madagascar, is the largest narrow rift on Earth. However, the driving mechanismsof continental rifting remain poorly understood due to a lack of numerical infrastructure tosimulate rifting, the lack of knowledge of the underlying mantle dynamics, and poor knowl-edge of mantle rheology. Here, we use state-of-art computational modeling of the upper660 km of the Earth to: 1) provide a better understanding of mantle flow patterns and themantle rheology beneath Madagascar, 2) to elucidate the main driving forces of observedpresent-day∼E-W opening in the EAR, and 3) to investigate the role of multiple plumesor a superplume in driving surface deformation in the EAR. In chapter 1, we simulate EdgeDriven convection (EDC), constrained by a lithospheric thickness model beneath Madagas-car. The mantle flow associated with the EDC is used to calculate induced olivine aggregates'Lattice Preferred Orientation (LPO), known as seismic anisotropy. The predicted LPO isthen used to calculate synthetic seismic anisotropy, which were compared with observationsacross the island. Through a series of comparisons, we found that asthenospheric flow result-ing from undulations in lithospheric thickness variations is the dominant source of the seismicanisotropy, but fossilized structures from an ancient shear zone may play a role in southern Madagascar. Our results suggest that the rheological conditions needed for the formationof seismic anisotropy, dislocation creep, dominates the upper asthenosphere beneath Mada-gascar and likely other continental regions. In chapter 2, we use a 3D numerical model ofthe lithosphere-asthenosphere system to simulate instantaneous lithospheric deformation inthe EAR and surroundings. We test the hypothesis that the∼E-W extension of the EAR isdriven by large scale forces arising from topography and internal density gradients, known aslithospheric buoyancy forces. We calculate surface deformation solely driven by lithosphericbuoyancy forces and compare them with surface velocity observations. The lithosphericbuoyancy forces are implemented by imposing observed topography at the model surfaceand lateral density variations in the crust and mantle down to a compensation depth of 100km. Our results indicate that the large-scale∼E-W extension across East Africa is driven bylithospheric buoyancy forces, but not along-rift surface motions in deforming zones. In chap-ter 3, we test the hypothesis that the anomalous northward rift-parallel deformation observedin the deforming zones of the EAR is driven by viscous coupling between the lithosphereand deep upwelling mantle material, known as a superplume, flowing northward. We testtwo end-member plume models including a multiple plumes model simulated using high res-olution shear wave tomography-derived thermal anomaly and a superplume model (Africansuperplume) simulated by imposing a northward mantle-wind on the multiple plumes model.Our results suggest that the horizontal tractions from northward mantle flow associated withthe African Superplume is needed to explain observations of rift-parallel surface motions indeforming zones from GNSS/GPS data and northward oriented seismic anisotropy beneaththe EAR. Overall, this work yields a better understanding of the geodynamics of Africa. / Doctor of Philosophy / Continental rifting is an important geodynamic process during which the Earth's outer-most rigid shell undergoes continuous stretching resulting in continental break-up and theformation of new oceanic basins. The East African Rift System, which has two continentalsegments comprising largely of the East African Rift (EAR) to the West and the easternmostsegment Madagascar, is the largest narrow rift on Earth. However, the driving mechanismsof continental rifting remain poorly understood due to a lack of numerical infrastructure tosimulate rifting, the lack of knowledge of the underlying mantle dynamics, and poor knowl-edge of mantle rheology. Here, we use state-of-art computational modeling of the upper660 km of the Earth to: 1) provide a better understanding of mantle flow patterns and themantle rheology beneath Madagascar, 2) to elucidate the main driving forces of observedpresent-day∼E-W opening in the EAR, and 3) to investigate the role of multiple plumesor a superplume in driving surface deformation in the EAR. In chapter 1, we simulate EdgeDriven convection (EDC), constrained by a lithospheric thickness model beneath Madagas-car. The mantle flow associated with the EDC is used to calculate induced olivine aggregates'Lattice Preferred Orientation (LPO), known as seismic anisotropy. The predicted LPO isthen used to calculate synthetic seismic anisotropy, which were compared with observationsacross the island. Through a series of comparisons, we found that asthenospheric flow result-ing from undulations in lithospheric thickness variations is the dominant source of the seismicanisotropy, but fossilized structures from an ancient shear zone may play a role in southern Madagascar. Our results suggest that the rheological conditions needed for the formationof seismic anisotropy, dislocation creep, dominates the upper asthenosphere beneath Mada-gascar and likely other continental regions. In chapter 2, we use a 3D numerical model ofthe lithosphere-asthenosphere system to simulate instantaneous lithospheric deformation inthe EAR and surroundings. We test the hypothesis that the∼E-W extension of the EAR isdriven by large scale forces arising from topography and internal density gradients, known aslithospheric buoyancy forces. We calculate surface deformation solely driven by lithosphericbuoyancy forces and compare them with surface velocity observations. The lithosphericbuoyancy forces are implemented by imposing observed topography at the model surfaceand lateral density variations in the crust and mantle down to a compensation depth of 100km. Our results indicate that the large-scale∼E-W extension across East Africa is driven bylithospheric buoyancy forces, but not along-rift surface motions in deforming zones. In chap-ter 3, we test the hypothesis that the anomalous northward rift-parallel deformation observedin the deforming zones of the EAR is driven by viscous coupling between the lithosphereand deep upwelling mantle material, known as a superplume, flowing northward. We testtwo end-member plume models including a multiple plumes model simulated using high res-olution shear wave tomography-derived thermal anomaly and a superplume model (Africansuperplume) simulated by imposing a northward mantle-wind on the multiple plumes model.Our results suggest that the horizontal tractions from northward mantle flow associated withthe African Superplume is needed to explain observations of rift-parallel surface motions indeforming zones from GNSS/GPS data and northward oriented seismic anisotropy beneaththe EAR. Overall, this work yields a better understanding of the geodynamics of Africa.