Research on Core Melt Droplet Interactions in Sodium Pool
摘要
Core disruptive accidents (CDA) represent one of the most critical concerns in the safety framework of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). This study examines the pre-fragmentation deformation behavior of continuous molten droplets in a sodium pool. The interaction of molten droplets of stainless steel (316SS) with liquid sodium is investigated under different thermal and hydrodynamic conditions using STAR-CCM + CFD code. The analysis is conducted to deal with the droplet's deformation behavior to predict the interaction's energetics and the possibility of vapor explosion. The effect of material properties, instantaneous contact temperatures, Weber numbers, and relative velocities on the deformation of droplets is analyzed. The comparison of continuous and single droplet deformations shows that the effect of interactions between droplets led to an increase in coolant penetration and surface area exposure. The investigation of the density and viscosity effect showed an increase in deformation rate as density and viscosity increased.