Numerical investigation on the heat transfer characteristics of a liquid-metal pool subjected to a partial solidification process

Kwang Il Ahn, Dong Ha Kim, B. S. Kim, C. H. Sohn

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7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate numerically the effects of solidification on the heat transfer characteristics of the liquid metal layer, for use in accident analyses. The situation is very similar to an overlying liquid melt pool that could be formed in the reactor lower head during the late phase of a severe nuclear accident. Based on a computational model, MPCOOL, the numerical predictions were then assessed through a comparison with the experimental data that was obtained with various boundary temperature conditions and geometrical aspect ratios, especially for the Ra-Nu relationship. For the cases with solidification, the results of the comparison show that (a) the computational model does show a good agreement with heat transfer rates inferred from the experimental data, with a few exceptions at the Ra numbers which suggest a turbulent transport; and also (b) the computational model underpredicts the heat transfer rates by about 6% than that inferred from the experimental data when it is integrally evaluated with the Ra-Nu correlation. The foregoing results are mainly due to the currently limited applicability of the computational model up to the laminar-to-turbulence transition flows and its application to the turbulence flows because it is always subjected to a model uncertainty between the laminar and turbulence. Next, an additional comparison for the cases with and without solidification was made to examine the effects of the solidification on the energy partition within the liquid metal layer and its effects on the directional heat transfer rates. The results of the comparison show that the computational model for the case without solidification predicts higher heat transfer rates by about 15% than when solidification is included, but there isn't any experimental data that directly supports this trend.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)277-304
Number of pages28
JournalProgress in Nuclear Energy
Volume44
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004

Keywords

  • Computational Model
  • Liquid-Metal Pool
  • Natural Convection Heat Transfer
  • Numerical Investigation
  • Solidification Effect

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