Experimental investigation of aerosol release behaviour from sodium pool fires

Accidental spillages of high temperature liquid sodium lead to vaporisation of sodium accompanied with fires and generation of sodium aerosols. Aerosol release rate from pool fires is an important parameter for assessing the aerosol hazard in LMFBR containments and for the design of efficient filters in ventillation systems. In the present study, small scale experiments are conducted with burning pools of liquid sodium to understand the effect of aerosol release rate on various factors such as volume flow rate and moisture content of air, burning duration of fire as well as pool depth. In all the experimental runs, nonisothermal pool conditions are set up and maximum pool temperatures are recorded. Tests related to pools of varying depths are carried out in open atmosphere with different sodium inventory (30 to 400 g.), whereas circulating atmospheres are employed for other tests with fixed mass of sodium (∼ 16 g). While flow rate of air, burning duration and pool depth show strong correlation towards aerosol release rate, moisture content of air has no noticeable impact on the sodium release phenomena