Melt impingement on a flat spreading surface under wet condition

Sahboun, N. F.  ; Matsumoto, Toshinori ; Iwasawa, Yuzuru  ; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki 

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station triggered reevaluation and necessary enhancement of the accident countermeasures and safety regulations worldwide. Such actions are based on the present knowledge and evaluation techniques of the important phenomena anticipated to occur in a severe accident. The present study focused on the under-water melt spreading behavior and aimed at a formulation to predict the final geometry of the solidified melt on the floor of the containment vessel. The formulation, based on the author's previous study of the dry spreading of molten metal, considers the thermal and fluid properties of the melt, so the gap between the core and simulant materials could be filled by using adequate properties. In addition, the formulation was extended to the wet condition by considering the film boiling heat transfer at the upper side of the spreading melt. The improved formula was applied to the PULiMS experiments conducted by the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology with a simulant oxide material under wet conditions. The predicted final spreading area and thickness were in agreement with the experimental results within a twenty percent error.