Abstract
During the potential Steam Generator Tube Rupture (SGTR) accident in lead-bismuth eutectic alloy (LBE) reactors, certain amounts of high pressure water are injected into the primary loop which is with high temperature. Water and liquid metal reacts strongly when they come into react and the flash evaporation of water may occur, which often induced high pressures. In the present study, a 3D CFD code is applied to investigate the key phenomena of SGTR and the flash evaporation in LBE-water interaction. The experiment of LIFUS test is firstly simulated and validated against the code. The VOF model is applied to simulate the multiphase flow, while the flash process is simulated with an evaporation-condensation model. The calculated results of pressure and temperature agreed in a good trend with the experimental data. Then more investigation is performed to study the consequences of the interaction with variation of mass flow rates, mass of injected water and temperatures of LBE and water. The investigation shows that the mass of water injected and the temperature difference between LBE and water has an effect on the peak pressure while the flow rate has an effect on the pressure rise rate during the rapid pressure rise phase in LBE-water interactions.
