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http://dx.doi.org/10.3795/KSME-B.2011.35.4.425

Numerical Simulation on the Spreading and Heat Transfer of Ex-Vessel Core Melt in a Channel  

Ye, In-Soo (School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan Univ.)
Ryu, Chang-Kook (School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan Univ.)
Ha, Kwang-Soon (Dept. of Nuclear Safety Research, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Song, Jin-Ho (Dept. of Nuclear Safety Research, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Publication Information
Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B / v.35, no.4, 2011 , pp. 425-429 More about this Journal
Abstract
In the unlikely of nuclear reactor meltdown, the leaked core melt or corium must be contained in a device called core-catcher so that the corium can be cooled and stabilized. The ex-vessel behavior of corium involves complex physical and chemical mechanisms of flow propagation, heat transfer, and reactions with sacrificial substrates. In this study, the detailed characteristics of corium flow and heat transfer were investigated by using a commercial CFD code for VULCANO VE-U7 test reported in the literature. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) model was used to predict the interfacial surface formation of corium and the surrounding air, and the discrete ordinate model was adopted to calculate radiation between corium and the surroundings. It was found that cooling via radiation through the top surface of corium had a dominant effect on the temperature and viscosity profiles at the front of the corium flow.
Keywords
Core Melt; Core-Catcher; Heat Transfer; Numerical Simulation; Two-Phase Flow;
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