Numerical simulations of gas–liquid–particle three-phase flows using a hybrid method

Abstract

For the analysis of debris behavior in core disruptive accidents of liquid metal fast reactors, a hybrid computational tool was developed using the discrete element method (DEM) for calculation of solid particle dynamics and a multi-fluid model of a reactor safety analysis code, SIMMER-III, to reasonably simulate transient behavior of three-phase flows of gas–liquid–particle mixtures. A coupling numerical algorithm was developed to combine the DEM and fluid-dynamic calculations, which are based on an explicit and a semi-implicit method, respectively. The developed method was validated based on experiments of water–particle dam break and fluidized bed in systems of gas–liquid–particle flows. Reasonable agreements between the simulation results and experimental data demonstrate the validity of the present method for complicated three-phase flows with large amounts of solid particles.