Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239

Development of multicomponent vaporization/condensation model

for a reactor safety analysis code SIMMER-III
Theoretical modeling and basic verification
Koji Morita a,∗ , Tatsuya Matsumoto a , Ryo Akasaka a , Kenji Fukuda a , Tohru Suzuki b,1 ,
Yoshiharu Tobita b , Hidemasa Yamano b , Satoru Kondo b
a Institute of Environmental Systems, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
b O-arai Engineering Center, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, 4002 Narita, O-arai, Ibaraki 311-1393, Japan
Received 20 March 2002; received in revised form 3 September 2002; accepted 21 October 2002

Abstract
It is believed that the numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic phenomena of multiphase, multicomponent flows in a reactor
core is essential to investigate core disruptive accidents (CDAs) of liquid-metal fast reactors. A new multicomponent vaporiza-
tion/condensation (V/C) model was developed to provide a generalized model for a fast reactor safety analysis code SIMMER-III,
which analyzes relatively short-time-scale phenomena relevant to accident sequences of CDAs. The model characterizes the V/C
process associated with phase transition through heat-transfer and mass-diffusion limited models to follow the time evolution of
the reactor core under CDA conditions. The heat-transfer limited model describes the nonequilibrium phase-transition processes
occurring at interfaces, while the mass-diffusion limited model is employed to represent effects of noncondensable gases and
multicomponent mixture on V/C processes. Verification of the model and method employed in the multicomponent V/C model
of SIMMER-III was performed successfully by analyzing a series of multicomponent phase-transition experiments.
© 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction events postulated beyond the design basis of a LMFR

1.1. Backgrounds
The consequences of postulated core disruptive ac-
cidents (CDAs) have been a major concern in the
safety of liquid-metal fast reactors (LMFRs), because
of the energetics potential resulting from a recritical-
ity event. Even though CDAs are lately categorized as
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-92-642-3788;
fax: +81-92-642-3788.
E-mail address: morita@nucl.kyushu-u.ac.jp (K. Morita).
1 Present address: Institut für Kern- und Energietechnik,
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Postfach 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe,
Germany.
plant, because of extremely remote probability of their
occurrence, the consequences of CDAs have been ex-
tensively analyzed to evaluate a safety margin of the
plant or potential risk to the public. Mechanical energy
release resulting from a recriticality event may directly
challenge the integrity of a double containment sys-
tem consisting of the primary reactor vessel boundary
and the containment vessel. The energetics potential
of a recriticality event is dependent on the core design
parameters such as the core size, fuel inventory and
its reactivity worth, and determined from the mode,
scale and rate of fuel motion. Therefore, the evalu-
ation of the recriticality event requires simulation of
an entire core and modeling of key thermal-hydraulic

0029-5493/02/$ – see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 9 - 5 4 9 3 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 5 1 - 5
 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239 225

Nomenclature v velocity (m s−1 )

a binary-contact area per unit W molecular weight (kg)
volume (m−1 ) x mole fraction
aA,B binary-contact area of the A/B interface y coordinate normal to interface (m)
per unit volume (m−1 )
cp specific heat at constant pressure Greek letters
α volume fraction
(J kg−1 K−1 )
Γ mass-transfer rate per unit volume
Dkg binary diffusivity of component k in
(kg s−1 m−3 )
a multicomponent mixture (m2 s−1 )
d sphere diameter (m) ΓA,B mass-transfer rate from component
I

e specific internal energy (J kg−1 ) A to B (kg s−1 m−3 )

Gr Grashof number µ viscosity (Pa s)
g gravitational constant (m s−2 ) κ thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1 )
h∗ , h heat-transfer coefficient with and ρ microscopic density (kg m−3 )
without mass transfer, respectively ρ̄ macroscopic (smeared) density
(W m−2 K−1 ) (kg m−3 ) (=αρ)
hA,B heat-transfer coefficient for side A of ω mass fraction
the A/B interface (W m−2 K)
ilg heat of vaporization (J kg−1 ) Subscripts
i specific enthalpy (J kg−1 ) A, B species in multicomponent systems
iVap specific enthalpy of saturated G, g vapor mixture
Gm material component m in vapor field,
(vaporization) vapor (J kg−1 )
representing fuel, steel, sodium and
iCon specific enthalpy of saturated
fission gas for m = 1–4, respectively
(condensate) liquid (J kg−1 )
∗ i interface quantity
k , k mass-transfer coefficient with and
K(k) solid energy component contacting to
without mass transfer, respectively
fluid, representing L4, L5, L6, k1, k2
(kg m−2 s−1 )
and k3 for k = 1–6, respectively
L characteristic length (m)
k species in multicomponent systems
Nu Nusselt number
km energy component of structure
N number of condensable gases
surface, representing pin, left can
p pressure (Pa)
wall and right can wall for m = 1–3,
Pr Prandtl number
respectively
q heat-transfer rate per unit volume
Lm energy component in liquid field,
(W m−3 )
representing liquid fuel, liquid steel,
qA,B net heat-transfer rate at the A/B
I
liquid sodium, fuel particles, steel
interface per unit volume (W m−3 ) particles and control particles for
R correction factor for mass-transfer rate m = 1–6, respectively
Re Reynolds number ng noncondensable gas
Sc Schmidt number o condensation site
Sh Sherwood number sat saturation
T temperature (K) ∞ bulk quantity
TA,B
I interface temperature at the A/B
interface (W m−3 ) Superscripts
Tw surface temperature of sphere (K) I(A/B) interface identification of the
t time (s) A/B binary contact
226 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239
and neutronic phenomena occurring during accident
progression.
Mechanistic simulation of an accident sequence
during a CDA is required to realistically assess the
energetics potential. This is only achieved by using a
comprehensive computational tool that systematically
models multiphase thermohydraulic and neutronic
phenomena occurring during the so-called transition
and expansion phases of a CDA. In this area, the
SIMMER-II code was developed as the first practi-
cal tool of its kind (Bohl and Luck, 1990), and has
been used in many experimental and reactor analyses
(Smith et al., 1985). The code has played a pioneer-
ing role especially in advancement of the mechanistic
simulation of CDAs, but at the same time extensive
worldwide code application revealed many limita-
tions due to the code framework as well as needs for
model improvement. For this reason, the development
of a new code, SIMMER-III, has been conducted at
the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC)
(Kondo et al., 1992) initially in collaboration with the
Los Alamos National Laboratory, the United States,
and more recently with Forschungszentrum Karl-
sruhe (FZK), Germany, and Commissariat à l’Energie
Atomique (CEA), France.
The purpose of SIMMER-III is to alleviate many of
the limitations of SIMMER-II and thereby to provide a
more reliable tool for the analysis of CDAs. The devel-
opment of SIMMER-III has reached a stage, where all
the models originally intended are made available and
integral calculations with the code can be made (Tobita
et al., 2000). In parallel to the code development, an
extensive program has been performed for systematic
and comprehensive code assessment (Kondo et al.,
1997, 1999; Tobita et al., 2000). The assessment pro-
gram has been performed in two steps: Phase 1 for fun-
damental assessment of individual models; and Phase
2 for integral code assessment. The Phase 1 assess-
ment consists of test problems for five specific models:
fluid convection algorithm, interfacial area and flow
regimes, momentum exchange functions, heat-transfer
coefficients, melting and freezing, and vaporization
and condensation (Kondo et al., 1997). These include:
single-phase and multiphase flow benchmark prob-
lems, small-scale experiments with reactor and sim-
ulant materials, and physical problems with known
solutions. The scope of the Phase 2 assessment is in-
tended to cover key accident phenomena, which are
directly relevant to the CDA analysis and include:
Boiling pool dynamics (Tobita, 1997), fuel reloca-
tion and freezing, material expansion (Boulanger and
Coste, 1997), fuel–coolant interactions (Morita et al.,
1999a,b), and disrupted core neutronics.
The integral applications of SIMMER-III to the
CDA assessment have been successfully performed,
indicating the possible significant reduction in eval-
uated CDA energetics (Boulanger and Coste, 1997;
Tobita et al., 1999). Also demonstrated was the use-
fulness of SIMMER-III for evaluation the key individ-
ual accident phenomena (Morita et al., 1997; Maschek
et al., 1998). Even though SIMMER-III was intended
for assessing the CDA energetics, its fluid-dynamics
model has been designed to maintain a generalized
framework, such that applications to non-LMFR or
nonnuclear fields are possible in principle, where tran-
sient multiphase, multicomponent flows are of inter-
est. Therefore, the code applications could include:
accident analyses of any types of future or advanced
liquid-metal cooled reactors (Morita et al., 2001) and
general types of multiphase flow problems. The anal-
ysis of a criticality accident in a solution fuel system
(Tobita et al., 2000) has also demonstrated such flex-
ibility of the code.
1.2. Objectives of this study
The multicomponent vaporization/condensation
(V/C) model is one of the key constitutive models
of SIMMER-III to simulate heat- and mass-transfer
phenomena relevant to accident sequences of CDAs.
The objective of the present study is to develop a
V/C model that reliably describes the multicompo-
nent phase-transition process for core materials in
sufficient physical details for use in LMFR accident
analysis. The development is intended to provide a
generalized model that is useful for analyzing rela-
tively short-time-scale multiphase, multicomponent
hydraulic problems, among which vaporization and
condensation, or simultaneous heat and mass transfer,
play an important role. The model characterizes the
V/C process associated with phase transition through
heat-transfer and mass-diffusion limited models to
follow the time evolution of the reactor core un-
der CDA conditions. The outcome and experience
gained in course of the SIMMER-II and advanced
fluid-dynamics model (AFDM) developments (Bohl
 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239
and Luck, 1990; Bohl et al., 1990a) were used to
maximum extent. This paper is the first in a series of
two papers reporting the development of multicom-
ponent V/C model for SIMMER-III. Here, the model
and method employed in the multicomponent V/C
model are described, and then its basic validity is
demonstrated using multicomponent phase-transition
experiments. The second paper (Suzuki et al., 2003)
will report an extended code verification using a new
series of bubble-condensation experiments.
2. Outline of SIMMER-III multiphase models
SIMMER-III is a two-dimensional, three-velocity-
field, multiphase, multicomponent, Eulerian, fluid-
dynamics code coupled with a fuel-pin model and a
space- and energy-dependent neutron kinetics model
(Kondo et al., 2000). The code models five basic
LMFR core materials: mixed-oxide fuel, stainless
steel, sodium, control (B4 C) and fission gas. A mate-
rial can exist as different physical states, for example,
fuel needs to be represented by fabricated pin fuel,
liquid fuel, a crust refrozen on structure, solid parti-
cles and fuel vapor, although fission gas exists only
in the gaseous state. Three velocity fields (two for
liquids and one for vapor) are modeled to simulate
relative fluid motions adequately, such as fuel/steel
separation in a molten core pool and inter-penetration
of fuel into sodium. Each mobile component, which
is liquid, solid particle or vapor, is assigned to one of
three velocity fields. The structure field components,
which consist of fuel pins and can walls, are im-
mobile. Although SIMMER-III is tailored to LMFR
materials, the code is sufficiently flexible to model
non-LMFR materials, which are present in many
assessment problems and advanced reactors.
The overall fluid-dynamics solution algorithm is
based on a time-factorization (time-splitting) approach
developed for AFDM (Bohl et al., 1990a), in which
intra-cell interfacial area source terms, momentum
exchange functions and heat and mass transfer are de-
termined separately from inter-cell fluid convection.
A semi-implicit procedure is used to solve inter-cell
convection on an Eulerian staggered mesh and a
higher-order differencing scheme is implemented to
improve the resolution of fluid interfaces by mini-
mizing numerical diffusion. A simultaneous solution
227
of all the conservation equations would be complex
and inefficient numerically, and hence this solution
procedure of separating intra-cell transfers from fluid
convection is believed to be the most practical for com-
plex multicomponent systems such as SIMMER-III.
In SIMMER-III, seven fluid energy components
(liquid fuel, steel, sodium; fuel, steel and control par-
ticles; and vapor mixture) can yield 21 binary-contact
modes, and each fluid component can interact with
three kinds of structure surfaces (a fuel pin and two
can walls). In total, there are 42 contact interfaces
among the fluid energy components and structure
surfaces. The constitutive models describe intra-cell
transfer of mass, momentum and energy at the fluid
interfaces. SIMMER-III also has a model for convec-
tive interfacial areas to take better account of highly
transient flow (Tobita et al., 1991). The calculations
of intra-cell heat and mass transfer include: struc-
ture configuration and heat and mass transfer due
to structure breakup, multiple flow regime treatment
and interfacial areas with source terms, momentum
exchange functions for each flow regime, inter-cell
heat transfer due to conduction, melting and freezing,
vaporization and condensation, etc.
In addition to the constitutive models, an equation-
of-state (EOS) model is required to close and com-
plete the fluid-dynamics conservation equations. The
analytic EOS model in SIMMER-III employs flexible
thermodynamic functions (Morita and Fischer, 1998;
Morita et al., 1998), which treat the basic reactor-core
materials. These materials are assumed to be immis-
cible, such that a unique EOS for each material can
be defined. The structure model represents the con-
figuration, and time-dependent disintegration, of the
fuel pins and subassembly can walls. Two can walls
can be modeled at the left and right mesh cell bound-
aries, each of which contains two temperature nodes.
The presence of a can wall at a cell boundary prevents
radial fluid convection, and provides a surface where
fuel can freeze or vapor can condense.
3. Model and method in V/C calculation
3.1. Nonequilibrium mass-transfer model
In SIMMER-III, the phase-transition processes
occurring at interfaces are described employing a
228 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239
Fig. 1. Basis of nonequilibrium heat-transfer limited process.
heat-transfer limited model. These are nonequilib-
rium processes because the bulk temperature does not
generally satisfy the phase-transition condition when
the mass transfer occurs at the interface. The basic
concept of this model is illustrated in Fig. 1, where
a binary-contact interface of the energy components
A and B is shown. Possible binary interfaces A/B,
where V/C mass transfers occur, include vapor/liquid,
vapor/solid and liquid/liquid contacts. Each energy
component interfaces with the other energy com-
ponents simultaneously, and each interface has a
uniquely defined interfacial area. Energy transfers
between components are based on the interfacial area
and heat-transfer coefficients. A specified temperature
is assigned to each possible interface to calculate heat
flows from/to each interface into/from the respective
bulk materials. These heat flows are summed to give
net interfacial energy loss or gain. The net energy
transfer rate from the interface is defined as
qA,B
I
= aA,B [hA,B (TA,B
I
− TA ) + hB,A (TA,B
I
− TB )]
(1)
An interfacial energy loss is defined as positive and
means condensation must occur to conserve (provide)
energy. An interfacial energy gain, which is defined as
negative, means the energy is going into vaporization.
For example, Fig. 1 shows interface A/B where the
interface is undergoing a net loss of energy to com-
ponent B. This energy is coming from condensation
of component A. The resulting product will be either
more of component B, or another component depend-
ing on the process involved. When the phase transition
is predicted, the interface temperature TA,B
I is defined
as the bulk saturation temperature of a phase-transition
species. Otherwise, in the case of no mass transfer, the
interface energy transfer is zero and hence the equiv-
alent interface temperature should be
hA,B TA + hB,A TB
TA,B
I
= (2)
hA,B + hB,A
The phase-transition rate is determined from energy
balance at the interface. If the net heat flow qA,B
I is
zero, sensible heat is exchanged without phase transi-
tion. If qA,B
I is positive, namely the energy is lost at
the interface, a vapor component condenses. Then the
mass-transfer rate for this case is determined from
qA,B
I
ΓA,B
I
= RA,B (3)
iA − iIB
If qA,B
I is negative, on the other hand, namely the
energy is gained at the interface, a liquid component
vaporizes. Then the mass-transfer rate for this case is
determined from
qA,B
I
ΓB,A
I
= −RA,B (4)
iIA − iB
The right sides of the above two equations are
multiplied by a correction factor RA,B , which is
introduced to take account of the effect of noncon-
densable gases and multicomponent mixtures on
vaporization and condensation at the vapor/liquid
and vapor/solid interfaces. Typically, when noncon-
densable gases are present in the vapor mixture, the
condensation rate can be reduced significantly due
to a buildup of noncondensable-gas concentration
near the interface, reducing the interface temperature
below the bulk saturation temperature of a condensa-
tion species. The procedure to determine RA,B based
on the mass-diffusion limited processes is discussed
in the next section. It should be also noted that the
latent heat of phase transition is defined here as
the difference between the enthalpy at the interface
and the bulk enthalpy of a component undergoing a
phase-transition process. Although more correctly the
bulk enthalpy should be replaced by the interfacial
one, SIMMER-III does not calculate temperature gra-
dients in liquid and vapors. Besides, the experience
from the previous codes suggests that better results
are obtained with this definition of effective latent
heat (Bohl, 1986; Bohl et al., 1990b).
 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239 229

temperature Tg and mass fraction ωk,∞ (k = 1 . . . N)

is under the phase transition on a liquid or solid
phase, which is maintained at a constant temperature
To . Here, the conservation of each vapor species can
be described based on multicomponent diffusion law
given, for example, by Bird et al. (1960). Assum-
ing that mass diffusion due to thermal and pressure
gradient is negligibly small, the mass-transfer rate of
vapor component k at the interface i, defined positive
for condensation, is governed by

N
dωk


Γk = ai ρg Dkg + ω Γj (5)
dy
i
k,i
j=1
Fig. 2. Basis of mass-diffusion limited process.
It is noted that the right side of this equation includes
both diffusive and convective contribution. The sec-
3.2. Effect of multicomponent mixture ond term on the right side of Eq. (5) is simplified by
introducing the mass-transfer coefficient in a manner
The physical model to represent the effect of non- analogous to heat-transfer coefficients, that is
condensable gases and multicomponent mixtures on
N

V/C processes is based on a study originally attempted
Γk = −ai kk∗ (ωk,i − ωk,∞ ) + ωk,i Γj ,
for SIMMER-II (Bohl and Luck, 1990). The equa-
j=1
tions for this model were obtained by considering the
quasi-steady, stagnant Couette-flow boundary layer, as k = 1, . . . , N (6)
shown Fig. 2, to relate the mass and energy fluxes to where the mass-transfer coefficient kk∗ in the presence
the overall forces driving heat and mass. This classical of mass transfer, and hence the effect of mass flow
Couette-flow model has been shown to provide a good through the boundary layer can be accounted for by
engineering model for single-component vapor con- Bird et al. (1960)
densation in the presence of noncondensable gases, N
thus confirming the adequacy of its theory for incorpo- ∗ j=1 Γj /ai
ration in two-fluid computer codes (Ghiaasiaan et al., kk = − N (7)
exp(− j=1 Γj /ai kk ) − 1
1995; Yao et al., 1996; Yao and Ghiaasiaan, 1996). In
SIMMER-II, the model extended to multicomponent The heat flow per unit volume at the interface should
systems was designed to predict not only the sup- include contribution of heat conduction, bulk convec-
pression of condensation by noncondensable gases tion and diffusion, that is
such as a fission gas, but also the phase-transition
N
rate for a vapor component condensing on the sur- dT


qi = −ai κ − Γ j ij (8)
face of a different material. However, this previous dy
i
j=1
effort was not successful for the practical use of the
code because its solution scheme was incompatible Thus, approximating the temperature gradients by
with numerical algorithms applied to SIMMER-II overall heat-transfer coefficients, energy balance ap-
multiphase-flow modeling. In the present study, exten- plied to the interface yields
sive model modifications are made as necessary and a N
new solution scheme is developed to make it suitable 
Γj ilg,j = ai [h∗g (Ti − Tg ) + ho (Ti − To )] (9)
for implementation on the multifluid computer code,
j=1
SIMMER-III.
The physical model and coordinate system are where ilg is the latent heat of vaporization as the en-
shown in Fig. 2. A multicomponent vapor mixture at thalpy difference between ig and io , but is replaced
230 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239
with the effective latent heat as already discussed.
The vapor-side heat-transfer coefficient h∗g in the pres-
ence of mass transfer is also modeled by Bird et al.
(1960)
N
∗ j=1 Γj cp,j /ai
hg = − N (10)
exp(− j=1 Γj cp,j /ai hg ) − 1
Eq. (9) represents that the heat flow at the interface
equals the sum of the latent heat flow and the sensible
heat flow through the interface.
The mass fraction ωk,i of the vapor component k
at the interface is determined by the relation between
mass and mole fractions
xk,i Wk
ωk,i = N N
j=1 xj,i Wj + (1 − j=1 xj,i )Wng
The mole fractions of vapor component at the interface
are obtained by assuming a constant pressure through
the boundary layer to the interface. In addition, the
condensed phase at the interface is assumed to be in
saturated thermodynamic equilibrium with the vapor
component, of which saturation pressure in the im-
miscible system is independent of its concentration
in the condensed phase. Treating the vapor compo-
nents and noncondensable gases as a mixture of ideal
gases, the mole fraction xk,i of vapor component k at
the interface is related to the interface temperature Ti
according to
psat,k (Ti )
xk,i =
pg
where psat,k (Ti ) is the saturation pressure of a
phase-transition component at the interface and pg is
the total pressure. The total pressure pg is expressed
as the sum of psat,k (Ti ) and the partial pressure of the
noncondensable gases at the interface
N uated independently prior to the implicit calculation

pg = psat,j (Ti ) + png,i
j=1
In the presence of noncondensable gases, a simulta-
neous solution of Eqs. (6) and (9) in terms of the
interface temperature Ti can be obtained iteratively
although there are nonlinear thermodynamic relation-
ships between Ti and the partial pressures of vapor
components. For the case of no noncondensable gas,
Ti is evaluated as an iterative solution of Eq. (13) with
png,i = 0
N

psat,j (Ti ) = pg (14)
j=1
As mentioned in the previous section, the correction
factor R is introduced into the heat-transfer limited
model to represent the mass-diffusion limited behav-
iors for each mass-transfer rate at the vapor/liquid and
vapor/solid interfaces. To recast both heat-transfer
and mass-diffusion limited processes in a mathemat-
ical form compatible with a V/C numerical solution
algorithm described in the next section, Rk for the
component k undergoing a phase transition is defined
(11)
as a correction for the mass-transfer rate of pure
vapor
Γk (Ti )
Rk = (15)
Γk (Tsat,k )
where
ai [h∗g (Ti − Tg ) + ho (Ti − To )]
Γk (Ti ) = (16)
ilg,k
and
ai [hg (Tsat,k − Tg ) + ho (Tsat,k − To )]
Γk (Tsat,k ) =
ilg,k
(17)
(12)
The mass-transfer rate Γk (Ti ) is defined as a func-
tion of Ti , which is a solution of Eqs. (6) and (9),
or Eq. (14), while Γk (Tsat,k ) is the mass-transfer rate
obtained assuming that the interface temperature is
equal to the bulk saturation temperature Tsat,k (pk ) and
the vapor-side heat-transfer coefficient is independent
of mass transfer. The correction factor Rk can be eval-
(13) of V/C conservation equations, even though the iter-
ative solution of several coupled nonlinear equations
to evaluate the interface temperature is required at
each vapor interface. Thus, it is unnecessary for us
to employ a numerical scheme to obtain a simulta-
neous solution of the interface temperature and V/C
conservation equations. This is advantageous because
such a scheme would be complex and inefficient
numerically.
 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239 231

pool dynamics, material expansion (through a channel

and into a pool), fuel–coolant interactions and so on.
Total V/C mass-transfer rates involving all the V/C
paths are presented as follows
I(G/L1) I(G/L2) I(G/L3)
ΓG,L1 = ΓG,L1 + ΓG,L1 + ΓG,L1

6
I(G/K(k))
+ ΓG,L1 (18)
k=1

I(G/L2) I(G/L3)

6
I(G/K(k))
ΓG,L2 = ΓG,L2 + ΓG,L2 + ΓG,L2 (19)
k=1

I(G/L3)

6
I(G/K(k))
ΓG,L3 = ΓG,L3 + ΓG,L3 (20)
k=1
Fig. 3. Mass-transfer processes occurring at liquid/liquid and va-
I(G/L1)
por/liquid interfaces. ΓL1,G = ΓL1,G (21)
I(G/L2) I(L1/L2)
3.3. Mass-transfer paths ΓL2,G = ΓL2,G + ΓL2,G (22)
and
As mentioned in Section 2, in SIMMER-III, the I(G/L3) I(L1/L3) I(L2/L3)
seven fluid energy components can have 21 binary- ΓL3,G = ΓL3,G + ΓL3,G + ΓL3,G (23)
contact modes, and each fluid component can inter- Here, detailed expressions of the typical V/C mass-
act with the three structures. Fig. 3 illustrates typical transfer rates are described for vapor/liquid sodium,
mass-transfer paths among a vapor mixture and three vapor/solid and liquid fuel/liquid sodium interfaces.
liquid components. The liquid vaporization can oc- Mass and energy components used in the V/C calcu-
cur at the liquid/liquid interfaces as well as at the va- lations are listed in Table 1.
por/liquid interfaces. Condensation processes of fuel At the interface between vapor and liquid sodium,
or steel vapor on other colder liquids can be consid- fuel and steel vapor can condense on liquid sodium
ered at the vapor/liquid interfaces. The vapor conden- and sodium can either condense or vaporize. The in-
sation on solid particles and structures are also treated terfacial energy transfer rates are evaluated by
in the V/C transfers. As the results, in SIMMER-III
30 paths are treated as the nonequilibrium V/C pro- qGm,L3
I
= aG,L3 [hL3,G (TGm,L3
I
− TL3 )
cesses occurring at interfaces, which have major ef-
fects on key phenomena directly relevant to accident +hG,L3 (TGm,L3
I
− TG )], m = 1, 2 and 3
sequences of a CDA. The phenomena include boiling (24)

Table 1
Mass and energy components used in V/C calculations
Energy components Material components Energy components of Solid energy components
in fluid field in vapor field structure surfaces contacting to fluid
L1 Liquid fuel G1 Fuel vapor k1 Fuel pin K(1) Fuel particles (L4)
L2 Liquid steel G2 Steel vapor k2 Left can wall K(2) Steel particles (L5)
L3 Liquid sodium G3 Sodium vapor k3 Right can wall K(3) Control particles (L6)
L4 Fuel particles G4 Fission gas K(4) Fuel-pin surface (k1)
L5 Steel particles K(5) Left can-wall surface (k2)
L6 Control particles K(6) Right can-wall surface (k3)
G Vapor mixture
232 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239

The interface temperatures are expressed by where the interface temperatures TGK(k) in the case of
no mass transfer is given by
TGm,L3
I
= max[Tsat,Gm , TGL3 ], m = 1 and 2, (25)
hK(k) TK(k) + hG,K(k) TG
and TGK(k) = (32)
hK(k) + hG,K(k)
TG3,L3
I
= Tsat,G3 (26) The mass-transfer rates at this interface are expressed
where the interface temperature TGL3 in the case of by
no mass transfer is given by qGm,K(k)
I
I(G/K(k))
hL3,G TL3 + hG,L3 TG ΓG,Lm = RGm,K(k) (33)
TGL3 = (27) iGm − iCon,Gm
hL3,G + hG,L3
Eq. (33) for m = 1, 2 and 3 is used for fuel, steel and
The mass-transfer rates at this interface are expressed sodium condensation, respectively.
by At the interface between liquid fuel and liquid
sodium, sodium vaporization can occur if the net
I(G/L3) qGm,L3
I
heat flow is negative at the interface. The interfacial
ΓG,Lm = RGm,L3 , qGm,L3
I
>0
iGm − iCon,Gm energy transfer rate is evaluated by
(28)
qL1,L3
I
= aL1,L3 [hL1,L3 (TL1,L3
I
− TL1 )
and
+hL3,L1 (TL1,L3
I
− TL3 )] (34)
I(G/L3) qG3,L3
I
ΓL3,G = −RG3,L3 , qG3,L3
I
<0 The interface temperatures are expressed by
iVap,G3 − iL3
(29) TL1,L3
I
= max[Tsat,G3 , TL1L3 ] (35)

Eq. (28) for m = 1, 2 and 3 is used for fuel, steel where the interface temperature, TL1L3 in the case of
and sodium condensation, respectively, and Eq. (29) no mass transfer is given by
is used for sodium vaporization. Similar treatment is hL1,L3 TL1 + hL3,L1 TL3
applied to vapor/liquid fuel interface, where fuel can TL1L3 = (36)
hL1,L3 + hL3,L1
either condense or vaporize; vapor/liquid steel inter-
face, where fuel vapor can condense on liquid steel The sodium vaporization rate at this interface is ex-
and steel can either condense or vaporize. pressed by
At the interfaces between vapor and solid compo-
I(L1/L3) qL1,L3
I
nents such as particles and structures, fuel, steel and ΓL3,G =− (37)
sodium vapor can condense on their surfaces. The in- iVap,G3 − iL3
terfacial energy transfer rates are evaluated by
Similar treatment is applied to liquid fuel/liquid steel
qGm,K(k)
I
= aG,K(k) [hK(k) (TGm,K(k)
I
− TK(k) ) and liquid steel/liquid sodium interfaces, where steel
and sodium vaporization can occur, respectively.
+hG,K(k) (TGm,K(k)
I
− TG )],
m = 1, 2 and 3 (30) 3.4. Closure relations

where K(k) for k = 1–6 represents L4, L5 and L6 In SIMMER-III, the binary-contact areas for pos-
for particles, and k1, k2 and k3 for structure surfaces, sible contact interfaces are determined based on the
respectively. The interface temperatures are expressed convective interfacial areas and a flow regime which
by describes the geometry of the multiphase flow (Tobita
et al., 1991). Flow regimes are modeled for both pool
TGm,K(k)
I
= max[Tsat,Gm , TGK(k) ], m = 1, 2 and 3 flow, in which the effect of the structure is negligible,
(31) and channel flow, which is confined by structure. The
 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239 233

heat-transfer coefficients are also determined for bi- The energy-conservation equations are expressed in
nary contacts depending on the flow regime. The co- terms of specific internal energy: for solid components
efficients for solid particles, liquid droplets and gas
∂ρ̄K(k) eK(k)
bubbles are simply based on heat conduction, but the
effects of internal circulation and oscillations are also ∂t
considered for the fluid particles. The convective heat  3
= RGm,K(k) aG,K(k) hK(k) (TGm,K(k)
I
− TK(k) )
transfer in continuous fluids is formulated by em-
m=1
pirical correlations for Nusselt numbers. Employing
the heat- and mass-transfer analogy, the vapor-side +(1 − RG4,K(k) )aG,K(k) hK(k) (TGK(k) − TK(k) )
mass-transfer coefficients independent of mass trans- (42)
fer can be found as a function of the Sherwood number
for liquid components
from the empirical correlations developed for sensi-
ble heat transfer. For example, correlations for forced ∂ρ̄L1 eL1
= ΓG,L1 iCon,G1 − ΓL1,G iL1
convection are generally in the forms ∂t
hg L 3
Nug = = f(Reg , Prg ) (38) + aL1,Lm hL1,Lm (TL1,Lm
I
− TL1 )
κg
m=2
and +RG1,L1 aG,L1 hL1,G (TG1,L1
I
− TL1 )
kg L +(1 − RG1,L1 )aG,L1 hL1,G (TG4L1 − TL1 )
Shg = = f(Reg , Scg ) (39)
ρg Dkg
(43)
where Reg = ρg vg L/µg , Prg = µg cp,g /κg and Scg =
µg /ρg Dkg . Necessary thermophysical and transport ∂ρ̄L2 eL2
= ΓG,L2 iCon,G2 − ΓL2,G iL2
properties are calculated by an analytical model of ∂t
SIMMER-III using general function forms for reactor +aL1,L2 hL2,L1 (TL1,L2
I
− TL2 )
and nonreactor materials (Morita et al., 1999c).
+aL2,L3 hL2,L3 (TL2,L3
I
− TL2 )

2
4. V/C conservation equations and solution + RGm,L2 aG,L2 hL2,G (TGm,L2
I
− TL2 )
procedure m=1
 

2
In the SIMMER-III fluid-dynamics solution algo- + 1− RGm,L2 aG,L2 hL2,G
rithm, as described in Section 2, the V/C calculation m=1
performs intra-cell heat and mass transfer among liq- ×(TG4L2 − TL2 ) (44)
uid, vapor and solid phases separately from inter-cell
and
fluid convection after the interfacial areas and heat-
and mass-transfer coefficients are obtained. Thus, the ∂ρ̄L3 eL3
= ΓG,L3 iCon,G3 − ΓL3,G iL3
mass- and energy-conservation equations to be solved ∂t
in the V/C calculation are written without convection 2
terms for vapor mixture, three real liquids, and six + aLm,L3 hL3,Lm (TLm,L3
I
− TL3 )
solid components. The mass-conservation equations m=1
are expressed by: for vapor components 
3

∂ρ̄Gm + RGm,L3 aG,L3 hL3,G (TGm,L3

I
− TL3 )
= ΓLm,G − ΓG,Lm , m = 1, 2 and 3 (40) m=1
∂t  

3
for liquid components + 1− RGm,L3 aG,L3 hL3,G
∂ρ̄Lm ∂ρ̄Gm m=1
=− , m = 1, 2 and 3 (41) ×(TG4L3 − TL3 ) (45)
∂t ∂t
234 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239

for vapor mixture 5. Analysis of multicomponent phase-transition

experiments
∂ρ̄G eG 
3
= ΓLm,G iVap,Gm − ΓG,Lm iGm Verification of the original model proposed for
∂t SIMMER-II has been performed using a series of mul-
m=1

3 ticomponent phase-transition experiments (Jackson,
+ RGm,Lm aG,Lm hG,Lm (TGm,Lm
I
− TG ) 1978a,b). Here, these experiments were recalculated
m=1 using SIMMER-III with the present multicomponent
+RG1,L2 aG,L2 hG,L2 (TG1,L2
I
− TG ) V/C model to demonstrate its basic validity in the case
of a single-component condensation with a noncon-

2
densable gas. The series of experiments, which is sim-
+ RGm,L3 aG,L3 hG,L3 (TGm,L3
I
− TG )
ilar to an experimental study of pure-steam condensa-
m=1
tion by Dhir (1971), has been performed by suddenly

3 
6
immersing a cold copper sphere of diameter 0.025 m
+ RGm,K(k) aG,K(k) hG,K(k) in a large volume of vapor mixture. The steam was
m=1 k=1
superheated to 408 K with variable amounts of air, he-
×(TGm,K(k)
I
− TG ) lium or nitrogen as noncondensable gases. The steam
  condensed into a liquid film on the sphere under free-

6 
3
+ 1− RGm,K(k) aG,K(k) hG,K(k) or forced-convection conditions, and then the sphere
k=1 m=1 temperature rose due to the heat transfer through the
×(TG4K(k) − TG ) (46) condensate film. In the experiments, the temperature
of the sphere center was recorded as a function of
The numerical solution procedure treats the vapor time. The experimental data are available in the range
and the liquid coolant implicitly, but the other liq- of quasi-steady condensation achieved after a sphere
uids and solid components are solved explicitly. The was immersed in the large volume of stagnant mixture.
iteratively solved conservation equations are tightly
coupled with EOSs. This is because of strong non- 5.1. Analytical conditions
linearity in phase-transition processes and a proba-
For the SIMMER-III calculations, heat- and mass-
ble large change in the vapor thermodynamic state.
transfer coefficients should be provided to close the
In order to solve Eqs. (40)–(46), two types of vari-
constitutive equations. The liquid-side heat-transfer
ables are defined: “sensitive” and “less sensitive.” The
coefficient was found from the theoretical Nusselt
sensitive variables are comprised of three condens-
number for quasi-steady laminar film condensation on
able vapor densities, the coolant energy and the vapor
a sphere in pure-steam systems (Dhir and Lienhard,
temperature. Vapor components participate directly in
1971)
mass transfer, and hence it was judged best to solve  1/4
changes in their values implicitly. The liquid fuel, liq- ho d gρo (ρo − ρg )i∗lg d 3
Nuo = = 0.785 (47)
uid steel, particle and structure energies are the less 2κo µo κo (Ti − Tw )
sensitive variables. The sensitive variables are updated
using a multivariate Newton–Raphson method. Fol- where i∗lg is the latent heat of vaporization corrected to
lowing the convergence of the iteration, an explicit account sensible heat of subcooling in the film, i∗lg =
solution procedure is used for the remaining less sen- ilg + 0.68cp,o (Ti − Tw ). The physical properties used
sitive variables. In a single-phase cell, vapor is as- in Eq. (47) were evaluated at Tw + 0.3(Ti − Tw ). For
sumed to always exist in a negligibly small nonzero the vapor-side heat–transfer coefficients, the following
volume to avoid numerical difficulties at the transi- empirical relations for steady-state heat transfer from
tion between single- and two-phase cells (Morita and a sphere were used (Bird et al., 1960)
Fischer, 1998). Thus, the single-phase V/C calculation
is performed using the same procedure as two-phase Nug = 2 + 0.60(Grg )1/4 (Prg )1/3 for free convection,
cells. (48)
 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239
and
Nug = 2+0.60(Reg )1/2 (Prg )1/3 for forced convection
(49)
The mass-transfer coefficients kk were evaluated from
the above Nusselt number correlations based on the
analogy between heat and mass transfer
Shg = 2 + 0.60(Grg )1/4 (Scg )1/3 for free convection,
(50)
and
Shg = 2 + 0.60(Reg )1/2 (Scg )1/3 for forced convection
(51)
In Eqs. (48)–(51), physical properties were evaluated
at the film temperature 0.5(Tg +Ti ) and the characteris-
tic length L is set to the sphere diameter. In condensing
system under free-convection conditions, the Grashof
number Grg should be dependent on upon both tem-
perature and composition differences, and was defined
using the total density difference between bulk and the
interface (Peterson, 1996; Herranz et al., 1998)
gρg,∞ (ρg,∞ − ρg,i )L3
Grg = (52)
µ2g
Here, we can assume linear temperature profile in the
condensate film, negligible thickness of the conden-
Fig. 4. Temperature rise of copper sphere in steam-air mixture.
235
sate film compared to the sphere diameter, small dif-
ference between sphere center and average tempera-
tures due to high thermal conductivity of copper, and
constant thermodynamic state of vapor mixture in a
large volume. These assumptions enable us to verify
only the developed set of equations representing the
multicomponent V/C processes and its solution proce-
dure against the simultaneous heat- and mass-transfer
process with transient condensation under the effect of
noncondensable gas. An extended verification of the
present model coupled with fluid-dynamics model will
be reported in the second paper (Suzuki et al., 2003).
5.2. Results
The results of the experiment and the prediction in
the case of the steam-air mixture under free-convection
conditions are shown in Fig. 4. This figure indicates
experimental measurements and predictions for the
temperature rise of the sphere center with variable
amounts of air present. Excellent agreement can be
seen for the case of pure steam, where the liquid-side
heat transfer dominates the condensation process.
In the cases of air presence, the results show that
the influence of air on condensation is remarkably
large even if the steam-air mixture has only a low
concentration of air. The process is limited by the
mass diffusion, and thus the predictions depend on
the mass-transfer coefficient, which was determined
236 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239

Fig. 5. Predictions of vapor-liquid interface temperature.

based on the heat- and mass-transfer analogy. Possible
uncertainty in the mass-transfer coefficient could lead
slightly poor agreement between the measurement
and the predictions.
Figs. 5 and 6 indicate the SIMMER-III predictions
of the vapor-liquid interface temperature and the cor-
rection factor, defined by Eq. (15), for the condensa-
tion rate. It can be seen from Fig. 5 that the results
in the presence of air indicate considerable reduction
in the interface temperature when the noncondensable
gas accumulates at the liquid-vapor interface due to
the mass transfer toward the interface. As the result,
the rate of condensation is also reduced considerably
when compared to the pure-steam case. This reduc-
tion rate is equivalent to the correction factor shown
in Fig. 6. In the prediction, the presence of only 1.8%
air reduces the interface heat flux or mass-transfer rate
by nearly a factor of ten.
Experimental and analytical results for nitrogen and
helium as the noncondensable gases in the mixture

Fig. 6. Correction factor for steam condensation rate.

 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239 237

Fig. 7. Temperature rise of copper sphere in steam-nitrogen mixture.

under forced-convection conditions are shown in 5.3. Discussions

Figs. 7 and 8, respectively. Compared with air and
nitrogen, helium has the large difference in ther-
mophysical properties, especially the mass-diffusion
coefficient in the mixture. This results in the less
noncondensable-gas effect of helium on condensation
at the comparable concentration of the other noncon-
densable gases, as can be seen from the experimental
data. However, SIMMER-III gives relatively large un-
derestimation of the noncondensable-gas effect, espe-
cially for high helium concentrations in the mixture.
The Lewis number, which is equal to Scg /Prg ,
is an important parameter of systems subjected to
simultaneous heat and mass transfer. For many two-
component gas mixtures, the Lewis number has val-
ues not far from unity except for very lightweight
gases. Under the present experimental conditions, the
Lewis number of steam-helium mixture is about 0.18,
while the Lewis numbers of steam-air and steam-
nitrogen mixtures are about 0.65; the Lewis number of

Fig. 8. Temperature rise of copper sphere in steam-helium mixture.

238 K. Morita et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 220 (2003) 224–239
steam-helium mixture is much smaller than unity
compared with those of the other mixtures. These
suggested that the present model could give rather
poor estimation of the noncondensable-gas effect if
the Lewis number of the mixture is too far from unity
or the concentration of noncondensable gas is too
high. Nevertheless, it is encouraged that SIMMER-III
with the present V/C model yields approximate solu-
tions for variable amounts of and different species of
noncondensable gas in the mixture.
For the accident analysis of LMFRs, we have to
consider a mixture of liquid-metal coolant vapor and
fission gas. One of the typical combinations is the
mixture of sodium vapor and xenon gas. Evaluating
its vapor properties using the thermophysical prop-
erty model of SIMMER-III (Morita et al., 1999c),
the Lewis number of sodium-xenon mixture is about
0.68 at the sodium boiling point. As compared to
the experimental results for steam-noncondensable
gas mixtures, this suggests that the present model
yield reasonable predictions for the vapor mixture of
sodium and fission gas. Experimental verification is
highly required to demonstrate the applicability of
the model to the metallic vapor systems. The present
results are also directly relevant to dynamics of a
vapor bubble expanding and condensing in a coolant
plenum with mechanical energy mitigation during the
expansion phase of a CDA. Further model assessment
would be necessary for such accident phenomena in
LMFRs.
6. Conclusion
An advanced multicomponent V/C model has been
developed to provide a generalized model for a fast
reactor safety analysis code SIMMER-III. The model
characterizes the V/C process associated with phase
transition through heat-transfer and mass-diffusion
limited models to follow the time evolution of the
reactor core under CDA conditions. By analyzing
a series of multicomponent phase-transition experi-
ments, it was demonstrated that SIMMER-III using
the present V/C model represents the condensation
process in the mixture of vapor and noncondensable
gas appropriately. It can be expected that SIMMER-III
using the present V/C model would describe the mul-
ticomponent phase-transition process reliably for core
materials in sufficient physical details for use in the
accident analysis of fast reactors.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Erhart A. Fischer of
FZK for his significant contribution to forming the
basis of the present study. Thanks are due to Kiyoshi
Nakagawa, Takashi Uyama and Takashi Ishibashi of
Kyushu University, and Masaaki Sugaya of Nuclear
Energy System Inc. for their contributions to this work.
A part of the present study has been performed as a
joint research between JNC and Kyushu University.
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