Amultiphasethermo-hydro-mechanicalmodelforconcreteathightemperatures—FiniteelementimplementationandvalidationunderLOCAloadOriginalResearchArticle

Theaimofthispaperistostudythethermo-hydraulicbehaviorofconcretesubjectedtosevereloadingconditions,suchasthosetypicalofnuclearwastestoragestructuresandpressurizedwaterreactors(PWR’s)vesselsinaccidentalconditions.Thepaperpresentsacoupledthermo-hydro-mechanical(THM)modelforthedescriptionofconcreteathightemperatures.Themodelischaracterizedbythepresenceofadeformablesolidmatrix(linearlyelastic)filledwiththreefluidphases(liquidwater,vapourwateranddryair)andhasbeenimplementedinafiniteelementcodefreelyavailableforresearchpurposes(CAST3M)developedbytheFrenchresearchcenterfornuclearenergy(CEA).Thecodehasbeenvalidatedbymeansofsomecasetestsandhasbeenfinallyappliedforthepredictionofthethermo-hydraulicconditionsinaconcreteslabsubmittedtoaloss-of-coolantaccident(LOCA)load.