When high temperature liquid metal of 1000 °K (1340 °F) or more comes
into contact with water, the resultant vapor formation is rapid
and may become explosive. The control and quantification of this
rapid heat transfer situation is the major focus of a new
three-year $1,400,000 grant from the Department of Energy.
Engineering Physics faculty members, Michael L. Corradini and Riccardo Bonazza, of the Wisconsin Institute of Nuclear Systems, are to
design and conduct experiments which would obtain fundamental
information on interfacial transport phenomena and stability of
molten metal-water systems. Innovations in nuclear reactor
system concepts rely on heat transfer components which employ the
nuking of molten metal and water. If the rapid heat transfer
becomes unstable, the situation can produce a "steam explosion."
The study of these steam explosions is also related to these past
concepts as well as to industrial waste-processing techniques in
which a water solution of toxic organic compounds is injected
into a pool of molten iron. To examine molten metal-water
interactions in a controlled manner, Corradini and Bonazza will
develop experimental chambers in simulant heat transport systems.
The chambers would contain liquid metal with water injected from
below through an injection port. A recently developed X-ray
imaging system at the UW Tantulus facility will be used to
examine the heat transfer process, on a real-time basis, between
these two fluids as steam is produced. This imaging is unique and
first to be able to capture these rapid multiphase phenomena with
high temporal and spatial precision. Further information can be
found at the website;
silver.neep.wisc.edu/~WINS.
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Copyright 1999 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Date last modified: 08-Jun-1999
Date created: 07-Jun-1999
Content By: perspective@engr.wisc.edu
Web services: webmaster@engr.wisc.edu