Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Numerical evaluation of hypothetical core disruptive accident in full-scale model of sodium-cooled fast reactor

  • Guo, Zhihong (School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology) ;
  • Chen, Xiaodong (School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology) ;
  • Hu, Guoqing (Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University)
  • Received : 2021.08.10
  • Accepted : 2021.12.05
  • Published : 2022.06.25
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Abstract

A hypothetical core destructive accident (HCDA) has received widespread attention as one of the most serious accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors. This study combined recent advantages in numerical methods to realize realistic modeling of the complex fluid-structure interactions during HCDAs in a full-scale sodium-cooled fast reactor. The multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method is used to describe the fluid-structure interactions inside the container. Both the structural deformations and plug rises occurring during HCDAs are evaluated. Two levels of expansion energy are considered with two different reactor models. The simulation results show that the container remains intact during an accident with small deformations. The plug on the top of the container rises to an acceptable level after the sealing between the it and its support is destroyed. The methodology established in this study provides a reliable approach for evaluating the safety feature of a container design.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11772343) and the Beijing Institute of Technology Research Fund Program for Young Scholars.

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