Simulation of basic gas mixing tests with condensation in the PANDA facility using the GOTHIC code Original Research Article

The paper reports the results of the assessment of the GOTHIC code using the data of four basic tests with condensation performed in the PANDA large-scale facility. Three of these experiments featured vertical injection, and in one the transient response due to a high-momentum horizontal injection (jet) was investigated. The injected fluid was either saturated steam or a superheated mixture of steam and helium, and the fluid initially present in the vessels was pure air. The simulations were carried out using a detailed three-dimensional representation of the vessels. In general, the results of the simulations, which used a relatively coarse mesh, were in good agreement with the data. Limitations in modelling local phenomena controlled by complex flow patterns (e.g. heat transfer in the region of an impinging jet) and the need for refined meshes to reproduce certain aspects of the transients (e.g. erosion of the interface between layers of different gas composition) were also identified. Finally, the analyses indicated that in two tests the role played by re-vaporisation of the condensate film was unexpectedly large, and this effect should be more carefully considered in the containment analyses and future model developments.