Detailed information on the flow field structure is often important in numerous industrial applications. Although commercial computational fluid dynamics packages are often capable of providing the required data, they are costly and not universally available. This study was motivated by the operation of an open-pool nuclear research reactor where low radiation levels can be maintained by the installation of a stable purified hot water layer in the upper part of the pool. Maintaining a stable stratification requires a detailed description of the structure of the velocity field. Due to the inherent complications and restrictions of performing accurate measurements in a pool of a real-size operating reactor, either smaller-scale models or oversimplified fluid dynamics computational schemes are routinely used. These methods cannot be validated, and therefore do not necessarily capture the large-scale behavior correctly.

We present an alternative approach to evaluate the velocity components in the pool that is based on the potential flow theory. The model results are validated by measurements using particle image velocimetry. The presented potential theory allows for the quick and easy assessment of the global properties of the fluid velocity distribution within the pool, and in particular, close to its surface. The suggested computational models are flexible and allow for easily varying the spatial dimensions of the flow field. The technique thus can be upscaled, and enables the validation of numerical computations in various fluid mechanical installations where the flow field cannot be resolved.