Abstract

The experimental methods for and results of determining the expansion characteristics of the detonation products of an energy source that simulates the pressure-volume change relationships for sodium vapor expansions during hypothetical core disruptive accidents in a fast test reactor are presented. Rigid cylinder-piston experiments performed at two scales (ratio 1:3) to determine a pressure-volume relationship as a function of source mass and expansion environment are described. Some of these measurements are compared with code calculations for the source. The results show: (1) that the pressure-volume relationship depends significantly on the presence of water in the cylinder and comparatively little on the timescale of the expansion, the presence of steel balls in the water, or a Mylar sheet on the water surface; and (2) the experiment's scale. A relationship between the measured work energy from the source and the charge mass is presented, and pressure-volume change measurements are compared with previous experimental measurements and with theoretical calculations for a 150 MWsec hypothetical core disruptive accident. The measurements and code calculations of the pressure-volume relationship for the source agree reasonably well.

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