Massively Parallelized Simulation of Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition in a Konvoi-Type Pressurized Water Reactor

Abstract

For the purpose of nuclear safety analysis, a reactive flow solver has been developed to determine the hazard potential of large-scale hydrogen explosions. Without using empirical transition criteria, the whole combustion process (including DDT) is computed within a single solver framework. In this paper, we present massively parallelized three-dimensional explosion simulations in a full-scale pressurized water reactor of the Konvoi type. Several generic DDT scenarios in globally lean hydrogen-air mixtures are examined to assess the importance of different input parameters. It is demonstrated that the explosion process is highly sensitive to mixture composition, ignition location and thermodynamic initial conditions. Pressure loads on the confining structure show a profoundly dynamic behavior depending on the position in the containment.