Solidparticleeffectsonheattransferinamulti-layeredmoltenpoolwithgasinjectionOriginalResearchArticle

Intheveryunlikelyeventofaseverereactoraccidentinvolvingcoremeltandpressurevesselfailure,itisimportanttoidentifythecircumstancesthatwouldallowthemoltencorematerialtocooldownandresolidify,bringingcoredebristoastablecoolablestate.Toachievethis,ithasbeenproposedtofloodthecavitywithwaterfromaboveformingalayeredstructurewhereupwardheatlossfromthemoltenpooltothewaterwillcausethecorematerialtoquenchandsolidify.Inthissituationthemoltenpoolwouldbecomeathree-phasemixture:e.g.,asolidandliquidslurryformedbythemoltenpoolasitcoolstoatemperaturebelowthetemperatureofliquidus,agitatedbythegasesformedintheconcreteablationprocess.Thepresentworkquantifiesthepartitionoftheheatlossesupwardanddownwardinthismulti-layeredconfiguration,consideringtheinfluenceoftheviscosityandthesolidfractioninthepool,fromtestdataobtainedfromintermediatescaleexperimentsattheUniversityofWisconsin-Madison.Theseexperimentalresultsshowheattransferbehaviorformulti-layeredpoolsforarangeofviscositiesandsolidfractions.Theseresultsarecomparedtopreviousexperimentalstudiesandwellknowncorrelationsandmodels.