Open AccessA numerical analysis on molten droplet hydrodynamics in sodium pool
Author(s) -
Nassir Yassin,
Zhigang Zhang,
Qi Wu,
Fang Wang,
Zhengtao Yang,
Rabih Ahmed,
M. M. Ali
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/680/1/012054
Subject(s) - coolant , corium , nuclear engineering , breakup , mechanics , materials science , heat transfer , computational fluid dynamics , loss of coolant accident , mass transfer , thermodynamics , engineering , physics
The risk and consequences of vapor explosion during severe accidents are among the most critical safety problems to be considered in next-generation sodium-cooled fast reactors. The melt of the core material (corium) may be produced in the event of inadequate core cooling and/or during Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) leading to Core Disruptive Accident (CDA). Corium displacement can then lead to powerful fuel-coolant interactions (FCIs). One of the consequences of this molten corium-coolant interaction is that vapor formation and hence explosion may occur. Due to the problem complexity, only hydrodynamic effects of the multiphase system of a single-droplet vapor explosion phenomenon, without heat transfer, is considered. The present study focuses on simulating a molten droplet pre-conditioning (deformation before breakup) through the early stages of the molten fuel coolant interaction. In order to efficiently capture the melt-sodium interfaces and predict droplet behavior with appropriate mass conservation, calculations were conducted using the CFD code of STAR CCM+ for several melt coolant two-phase system configurations. The results demonstrate that the melt properties and velocity are the dominant factors on the melt droplet pre-conditioning behavior.