Marcum Research Group

The Traveling Wave Reactor Loop (TWRL) is a large-scale separate-effects test facility which was originally designed under the sponsorship of TerraPower, LLC and has been utilized for a verity of tests focused on improving the understanding of flow-induced vibration phenomena associated with wire-wrapped pins within a sodium fast reactor bundle. This water-filled loop boasts at 14 foot tall test section and is capable of circulating water through the test section over a range of 20 to 350 gallons per minute while maintaining pressures and temperatures of 0 to 200 psig and 70-150 F. The TWRL was utilized in the demonstration of a new measurement method developed by OSU in collaboration with TerraPower, LLC to characterize vibration of pins in real-time through use of fiber-optic sensors using a technique referred to as distributed strain sensing. This outcome of this project led to the first-ever successful measurement of pin-to-pin interaction and contact in real time under fluid-elastic conditions.

Aaron Weiss Senior Research Faculty School of Nuclear Science and Engineering Oregon State University  Corvallis, OR 97331 Office: 541-737-7084 Aaron.Weiss@oregonstate.edu

Wade Marcum Senior Associate Dean and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Henry W. and Janice J. Schuette Professor in Nuclear Science and Engineering School of Nuclear Science and Engineering Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331 Office: 541-737-3018 Wade.Marcum@oregonstate.edu