Non-local equilibrium two-phase flow model with phase change in porous media and its application to reflooding of a severely damaged reactor core

A generalized non local-equilibrium, three-equation model was developed for the macroscopic description of two-phase flow heat and mass transfer in porous media subjected to phase change. Six pore-scale closure problems were proposed to determine all the effective transport coefficients for representative unit cells. An improved model is presented in this paper with the perspective of application to intense boiling phenomena. The objective of this paper is to present application of this model to the simulation of reflooding of severely damaged nuclear reactor cores. In case of accident at a nuclear power plant, water sources may not be available for a long period of time and the core heats up due to the residual power. Any attempt to inject water during core degradation can lead to quenching and further fragmentation of the core material. The fragmentation of fuel rods and melting of reactor core materials may result in the formation of a "debris bed". The typical particle size in a debris bed might reach...