Phenomenological studies of steam explosions triggered by an external trigger in the TROI experiment

A steam explosion resulting from an interaction between molten material and coolant may occur not only spontaneously, but also externally by external triggering factors. In order to study this phenomenon, an external trigger was applied to the TROI steam explosion experiment. The external trigger led to a triggered steam explosion, as it was applied before a possible triggering of a spontaneous steam explosion. In this paper, both a spontaneous steam explosion test and a triggered steam explosion test using an external trigger are described. An explosive (PETN 1g) was used as the external trigger and it successfully triggered a steam explosion. From this triggered steam explosion test, the maximum dynamic pressure and dynamic load recorded 15.0MPa and 180kN, respectively