NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF MASS AND HEAT TRANSFER IN SODIUM POOL COMBUSTION

Abstract

Liquid sodium pool combustion is a coupled phenomenon of heat and mass transfer, chemical reaction, and aerosol dynamics. This article presents numerical investigation of the coupled phenomena using a new computational tool. Boundary layer equations are solved to obtain the thermalhydraulic field above the pool surface. The chemical reaction and heat and mass transfer are solved interactively considering radiation heat transfer and behavior of reaction product aerosols. Numerical results are compared with experiments, and agreement is excellent concerning burning rate, flame temperature, and height. It is concluded that the sodium pool combustion is self-limited and negative feedback is at work.