Analysis of Central Sloshing Experiment Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) Method

Liquid sloshing phenomenon is encountered whenever a liquid in a container has an unrestrained surface and can be excited. Specific type of sloshing motion can occur during the core meltdown of a liquid metal reactor (LMR) and can lead to a compaction of the fuel in the center of the core and to energetic nuclear power excursions. This phenomenon was studied in series of “centralized sloshing” experiments with a central water column collapsing inside the surrounding cylindrical tank. These experiments provide data for a benchmark exercise for accident analysis codes. To simulate “centralized sloshing” phenomenon a numerical method should be capable to predict motion of free surface of liquid, wave propagation and reflection from the walls. A meshless method based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) for the simulation of 3D free surface liquid motion has been developed. Proposed method is applied to the simulation of “centralized sloshing” experiments. Simulation results are compared with the experimental results as well as with results of computations performed with 3D code SIMMER-IV which is an advanced reactor safety analysis code that implements the traditional mesh-based numerical method. In series of numerical calculations it is shown that overall motion of the liquid is in a good agreement with experimental observations. Dependence on the initial and geometrical symmetry is studied and compared with experimental data.