Experimental study on molten metal spreading and deposition behaviors

In this paper, experimental investigation of the molten metal spreading behavior that was carried out at Hokkaido University using high frequency inductive heater is presented to address the fundamental behavior of the molten metal spreading and deposition behaviors on dry flat plate. Molten copper was utilized as a test sample, and dataset was obtained for the falling molten metal on dry stainless-steel plate at various elevations, nozzle sizes and initial temperatures. During the spreading transient, high-speed thermo-camera was utilized to measure the molten metal's surface temperature. Immediately after the solidification, solidified molten metal's spread area and deposition thickness were measured. Based on the database obtained, dimensional analysis was conducted to identify the key parameters responsible for the molten metal spreading. From the obtained database, new experimental correlation was developed which is capable of predicting the spreading area at reasonable accuracy. Present analysis provides characteristic information of molten metal spreading and deposition behaviors which will be useful for the corium relocation problem in severe accident analysis.