2009 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 249-260
This paper describes experimental analyses using the SIMMER-III computer code, which is a two-dimensional multi-component multi-phase Eulerian fluid-dynamics code. Two topics of key phenomena in core disruptive accidents were presented in this paper: molten fuel freezing and dispersion; and boiling behavior of molten fuel pool. Related experimental database are reviewed to select appropriate experiments. To analyze the fuel freezing behavior, the GEYSER out-of-pile and the CABRI-EFM1 in-pile experiments were selected. The SIMMER-III calculations were in good agreement with fuel penetration lengths measured in a series of the GEYSER experiments. The fuel freezing behavior in the CABRI-EFM1 experiment was also reasonably simulated by SIMMER-III. The boiling pool consisting principally of molten fuel/steel mixtures is characterized by the heat transfer between fuel and steel. The CABRI-TPA2 experiment has suggested low transient heat flux from fuel to steel due to a steel vapor blanketing around a steel droplet. SIMMER-III well simulated the steel boiling behavior observed in the CABRI-TPA2 experiment by applying reduced heat transfer between fuel and steel.
