Simulation of a hypothetical core disruptive accident in the mars test-facility

In France, a large experimental programme MARA/MARS was undertaken in the 80's to estimate the mechanical consequences of an HCDA (Hypothetical Core Disruptive Accident) and to validate the SIRIUS computer code used at that time for the numerical simulations. At the end of the 80's, it was preferred to add a HCDA sodium-bubble-argon tri-component constitutive law to the general ALE fast dynamics finite element CASTEM-PLEXUS code rather than going on developing and using the specialized SIRIUS code. The experimental results of the MARA programme were used in the 90's to validate and qualify the CASTEM-PLEXUS code. A first series of computations of the tests MARA 8, MARA 10 and MARS was realised. The simulations showed a rather good agreement between the experimental and computed results for the MARA 8 and MARA 10 tests - even if there were some discrepancies - but the prediction of the MARS structure displacements and strains was overestimated. This conservatism was supposed to come from the fact that several MARS non axisymmetric structures like core elements, pumps and heat exchangers were not represented in the CASTEM-PLEXUS model. These structures, acting as porous barriers, had a protective effect on the mock-up containment by absorbing energy and slowing down the fluid impacting the containment. For these reasons, we developed in CASTEM-PLEXUS a new HCDA constitutive law taking into account the presence of the internal structures (without meshing them) by means of an equivalent porosity method. In other respects, the process used for dealing with the fluid-structure coupling in CASTEM-PLEXUS was improved. Thus a second series of simulations of the tests MARA8 and MARA10 was realised. A simulation of the test MARS was carried out too with the same simplified representation of the peripheral structures as in order to estimate the improvement provided by the new fluid-structure coupling. This paper presents a third numerical simulation of the MARS test with the CASTEM-PLEXUS code. (authors)