Numerical simulation of a Hypothetical Core Disruptive Accident in the MARA8 mock-up with the CASTEM-PLEXUS computer code
Résumé
In case of a Hypothetical Core Disruptive Accident (HCDA) in a Liquid Metal Reactor, the interaction between fuel and liquid sodium creates a high pressure gas bubble in the core. The violent expansion of this bubble loads the vessel and the internal structures, whose deformation is important. The experimental test MARA8 is a simple small scale representation of a reactor. It simulates a HCDA in a mock-up closed by a flexible vessel and a flexible roof. The vessel is filled with water, topped with an air blanket. The test is fired using an explosive charge.
This paper presents a simulation of the MARA8 test with the fast dynamics code CASTEM-PLEXUS. A specific HCDA constitutive law was implemented in this code to simulate this kind of explosion. The computed results are explained by means of an analysis of the pressure, gas fraction, fluid velocities, displacements, strains and stresses.
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