Applicability of mechanistic analysis code seraphim to sodium-water reaction in tube bundle system

Kosaka, Wataru  ; Uchibori, Akihiro ; Watanabe, Akira*; Shiina, Yoshimi*

In a steam generator (SG) of a sodium-cooled fast reactor, water leakage caused by heat transfer tube failure in an SG makes a high-temperature, high-velocity, and corrosive jet with sodium-water reaction (SWR). The reacting jet may cause further tube failure and the expansion of the affected area in an SG. A mechanistic analysis code SERAPHIM has capability to evaluate the reacting jet considering multi-component, multiphase and compressive flow with SWR. By comparing analysis and experimental results, SERAPHIM code has been validated from the case of a free jet to the reacting jet in a tube bundle system with an average water leak rate of 0.15 kg/s. In this paper, as one of the validation analysis series of SERAPHIM code, we performed numerical analysis for the reacting jet in a tube bundle system with larger average water leak rate, i.e. 1.85 kg/s. Similar to previously reported results, the gas phase expanded in the system immediately after the discharging and then flowed in the direction of buoyancy force. It was confirmed the occurrence of an underexpanded jet and the limitation of the maximum temperature, which are consistent with the knowledge of the SWR phenomena in an SG. The low and high-temperature regions were wider than in previous reports due to the larger average water leak rate. The high-temperature region obtained by the analysis agreed with the representative characteristics appeared in the experimental result such as location and shape of the temperature distribution. The analysis results were consistent with previous knowledge. The representative characteristics that appeared in the experimental result were also reproduced. SERAPHIM code was applicable to the selected average water leak rate in the tube bundle system.