Slow and Fast Hydrogen De agration

Abstract

Amidst the growing demand for energy, many nations are considering the expanded role of nuclear power in their energy portfolios. However, in case of severe accidents, large amounts of hydrogen gas can be released in the nuclear containment. Hydrogen-air mixture forms a very ammable gas which on subsequent ignition can lead to ame propagation in the nuclear containment. This may produce oscillating pressure waves or high over pressures that may damage the safety equipment and even a_ect the structural integrity of the nuclear reactor containment. Hence, there is a need for tools that can perform safety analysis of the nuclear reactors in case of severe accidents. In this respect, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes have been widely used in the past to predict such ow and combustion phenomena. However, before any CFD code can be used for safety analysis, it requires thorough validation to corroborate the accuracy of its predicted results. This stems the motivation of the current thesis work.