543:(FCI). The severity of a steam explosion based on fuel-coolant interaction (FCI) depends strongly on the so-called premixing process, which describes the mixing of the melt with the surrounding water-steam mixture. In general, water-rich premixtures are considered more favorable than steam-rich environments in terms of steam explosion initiation and strength. The theoretical maximum for the strength of a steam explosion from a given mass of molten corium, which can never be achieved in practice, is due to its optimal distribution in the form of molten corium droplets of a certain size. These droplets are surrounded by a suitable volume of water, which in principle results from the max. possible mass of vaporized water at instantaneous heat exchange between the molten droplet fragmenting in a shock wave and the surrounding water. On the basis of this very conservative assumption, calculations for alpha containment failure were carried out by Theofanous. However, these optimal conditions used for conservative estimates do not occur in the real world. For one thing, the entire molten reactor core will never be in premixture, but only in the form of a part of it, e.g., as a jet of molten corium impinging a water pool in the lower plenum of the reactor, fragmenting there by ablation and allowing by this the formation of a premixture in the vicinity of the melt jet falling through the water pool. Alternatively, the melt may arrive as a thick jet at the bottom of the lower plenum, where it forms a pool of melt overlaid by a pool of water. In this case, a premixing zone can form at the interface between the melt pool and the water pool. In both cases, it is clear that by far not the entire molten reactor inventory is involved in premixing, but rather only a small percentage. Further limitations arise from the saturated nature of the water in the reactor, i.e., water with appreciable supercooling is not present there. In the case of penetration of a fragmenting melt jet there, this leads to increasing evaporation and an increasing steam content in the premixture, which, from a content > 70% in the water/steam mixture, prevents the explosion altogether or at least limits its strength. Another counter-effect is the solidification of the molten particles, which depends, among other things, on the diameter of the molten particles. That is, small particles solidify faster than larger ones. Furthermore, the models for instability growth at interfaces between flowing media (e.g. Kelvin-Helmholtz, Rayleigh-Taylor, Conte-Miles, ...) show a correlation between particle size after fragmentation and the ratio of the density of the fragmenting medium (water-vapor mixture) to the density of the fragmented medium, which can also be demonstrated experimentally. In the case of corium (density of ~ 8000 kg/mÂł), much smaller droplets (~ 3 - 4 mm) result than when alumina (Al2O3) is used as a corium simulant with a density of just under half that of corium with droplet sizes in the range of 1 - 2 cm. Jet fragmentation experiments conducted at JRC ISPRA under typical reactor conditions with masses of molten corium up to 200 kg and melt jet diameters of 5 - 10 cm in diameter in pools of saturated water up to 2 m deep resulted in success with respect to steam explosions only when Al2O3 was used as the corium simulant. Despite various efforts on the part of the experimenters, it was never possible to trigger a steam explosion in the corium experiments in FARO.(Will be continued ...)
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678:. Newer steam engines use heated oil to force drops of water to explode and create high pressure in a controlled chamber. The pressure is then used to run a turbine or a converted combustion engine. Hot oil and water explosions are becoming particularly popular in concentrated solar generators, because the water can be separated from the oil in a closed loop without any external energy. Water explosion is considered to be
35:
639:. When oil in a pan is on fire, the natural impulse may be to extinguish it with water; however, doing so will cause the hot oil to superheat the water. The resulting steam will disperse upwards and outwards rapidly and violently in a spray also containing the ignited oil. The correct method to extinguish such fires is to use either a damp cloth or a tight lid on the pan; both methods deprive the fire of
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burners. When a water tube fails due to any of a variety of reasons, it causes the water in the boiler to expand out of the opening into the furnace area that is only a few psi above atmospheric pressure. This will likely extinguish all fires and expands over the large surface area on the sides of the boiler. To decrease the likelihood of a devastating explosion, boilers have gone from the "
358:(BLEVE), and rely on the release of stored superheat. But many large-scale events, including foundry accidents, show evidence of an energy-release front propagating through the material (see description of FCI below), where the forces create fragments and mix the hot phase into the cold volatile one; and the rapid heat transfer at the front sustains the propagation.
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of cold water is thrown onto the surface near the patty. A vessel (such as a pot or frying-pan cover) is then used to quickly seal the steam-flash reaction, dispersing much of the steamed water on the cheese and patty. This results in a large release of heat, transferred via vaporized water condensing back into a liquid (a principle also used in
690:
A cooking technique called flash boiling uses a small amount of water to quicken the process of boiling. For example, this technique can be used to melt a slice of cheese onto a hamburger patty. The cheese slice is placed on top of the meat on a hot surface such as a frying pan, and a small quantity
310:
can also provide the conditions for a steam explosion. The water changes from a solid or liquid to a gas with extreme speed, increasing dramatically in volume. A steam explosion sprays steam and boiling-hot water and the hot medium that heated it in all directions (if not otherwise confined, e.g. by
443:
of the boiler shell due to constant expansion and contraction). A failure of fire tubes forces large volumes of high pressure, high temperature steam back down the fire tubes in a fraction of a second and often blows the burners off the front of the boiler, whereas a failure of the pressure vessel
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Steam explosive biorefinement is an industrial application to valorize biomass. It involves pressurizing biomass with steam at up to 3 MPa (30 atmospheres) and instantaneously releasing the pressure to produce the desired transformation in the biomass. An industrial application of the concept has
538:
Events of this general type are also possible if the fuel and fuel elements of a water-cooled nuclear reactor gradually melt. The mixture of molten core structures and fuel is often referred to as "Corium". If such corium comes into contact with water, vapour explosions may occur from the violent
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High steam generation rates can occur under other circumstances, such as boiler-drum failure, or at a quench front (for example when water re-enters a hot dry boiler). Though potentially damaging, they are usually less energetic than events in which the hot ("fuel") phase is molten and so can be
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and pressure for a marine boiler is around 950 psi (6,600 kPa) and 850 °F (454 °C) at the outlet of the superheater. A steam boiler has an interface of steam and water in the steam drum, which is where the water is finally evaporating due to the heat input, usually oil-fired
408:. A dangerous steam explosion can also be created when liquid water or ice encounters hot, molten metal. As the water explodes into steam, it splashes the burning hot liquid metal along with it, causing an extreme risk of severe burns to anyone located nearby and creating a fire hazard.
467:, an extremely hazardous situation in which a water layer under an open-top tank pool fire starts boiling, which results in a significant increase in fire intensity accompanied by violent expulsion of burning fluid to the surrounding areas. In many cases, the underlying water layer is
856:
439:" boilers that have the water inside of the tubes and the furnace area is around the tubes. Old "fire-tube" boilers often failed due to poor build quality or lack of maintenance (such as corrosion of the fire tubes, or
673:
A water vapor explosion creates a high volume of gas without producing environmentally harmful leftovers. The controlled explosion of water has been used for generating steam in power stations and in modern types of
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failure. Two possibilities are the ejection at high pressure of molten fuel into the containment, causing rapid heating; or an in-vessel steam explosion causing ejection of a missile (such as the
616:) into, and through, the containment. Less dramatic but still significant is that the molten mass of fuel and reactor core melts through the floor of the reactor building and reaches
499:
286:, rapidly heated by fine hot debris produced within it, or heated by the interaction of molten metals (as in a fuel–coolant interaction, or FCI, of molten nuclear-reactor
1133:
Mojtabi, Mehdi; Wigley, Graham; Helie, Jerome (2014). "The Effect of Flash
Boiling on the Atomization Performance of Gasoline Direct Injection Multistream Injectors".
812:
471:, in which case part of it goes through explosive boiling. When this happens, the abruptness of the expansion further enhances the expulsion of blazing fuel.
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If a steam explosion occurs in a confined tank of water due to rapid heating of the water, the pressure wave and rapidly expanding steam can cause severe
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in a large steam explosion. On a marine boiler, this would certainly destroy the ship's propulsion plant and possibly the corresponding end of the ship.
620:; a steam explosion might occur, but the debris would probably be contained, and would in fact, being dispersed, probably be more easily cooled. See
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907:
Theofanous, T.G.; Najafi, B.; Rumble, E. (1987). "An
Assessment of Steam-Explosion-Induced Containment Failure. Part I: Probabilistic Aspects".
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In a more domestic setting, steam explosions can be a result of trying to extinguish burning oil with water, in a process called
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Broeckmann, Bernd; Schecker, Hans-Georg (1995). "Heat
Transfer Mechanisms and Boilover in Burning Oil–Water Systems".
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O) so that chemical explosions and fires may follow. Some steam explosions appear to be special kinds of
398:, and are a major cause of human fatalities in volcanic eruptions. They are often encountered where hot
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Theofanous, T.G.; Yuen, W.W. (2 April 1995). "The probability of alpha-mode containment failure".
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may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience
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by Lloyd S. Nelson, Paul W. Brooks, Riccardo
Bonazza and Michael L. Corradini ... Kjetil Hildal
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nuclear reactor vessel to jump over 9 feet (2.7 m) in the air when it was destroyed by a
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interaction between molten fuel (corium) and water as coolant. Such explosions are seen to be
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underneath the reactor in order to pump out water and reinforce underlying soil with
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in the Soviet Union was feared to cause major steam explosion (and resulting
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1012:"Thermodynamics of Tower-Block Infernos: Effects of Water on Aluminum Fires"
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any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against
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ruptures, it is always followed by some degree of steam explosion. A common
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caused by violent boiling or flashing of water or ice into
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Maguire, John F.; Woodcock, Leslie V. (2019-12-20).
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Journal of Loss
Prevention in the Process Industries
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full and entire evacuation of the boiler's contents
390:Steam explosions are naturally produced by certain
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376:2007 New York City steam explosion
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1075:Aluminium International Today
803:Garrison, William W. (1984).
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1147:10.1615/AtomizSpr.2014008296
997:10.1016/0029-5493(94)00889-7
878:10.1016/0950-4230(95)00016-T
508:Knowledge's inclusion policy
302:. Pressure vessels, such as
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757:Triggered Steam Explosions
567:Chernobyl nuclear disaster
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541:fuel–coolant interactions
813:Loss Prevention Bulletin
686:Flash boiling in cooking
680:environmentally friendly
475:Nuclear reactor meltdown
1094:(subscription required)
206:more precise citations.
1135:Atomization and Sprays
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942:Magallon, D. (2009).
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428:operating temperature
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306:, that operate above
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1167:Explosion protection
610:containment building
556:criticality accident
463:, may be subject to
350:) to form water or H
308:atmospheric pressure
292:nuclear reactor core
94:improve this article
1122:. 25 November 2021.
1028:2019Entrp..22...14M
989:1995NuEnD.155..459T
921:1987NSE....97..259T
870:1995JLPPI...8..137B
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320:chemical explosions
820:. pp. 26–30.
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660:Biomass Refinement
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591:groundwater
469:superheated
457:diesel oils
374:during the
284:superheated
204:introducing
1182:Explosions
1161:Categories
1088:2024-06-20
1083:1009034663
771:References
703:Other uses
614:upper head
504:relocating
437:water-tube
187:references
150:April 2008
120:newspapers
49:improve it
19:See also:
1022:(1): 14.
894:0950-4230
886:1873-3352
826:0260-9576
622:WASH-1400
595:tunneling
516:June 2024
453:crude oil
433:fire-tube
392:volcanoes
346:in air (O
324:zirconium
288:fuel rods
276:explosion
212:July 2011
55:talk page
1079:ProQuest
1056:33285789
760:Archived
714:See also
637:slopover
599:concrete
465:boilover
461:kerosene
362:Examples
336:hydrogen
330:(inpure
328:graphite
313:scalding
257:Littoral
1047:7516436
1024:Bibcode
1016:Entropy
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866:Bibcode
839:22 July
697:freezer
587:reactor
441:fatigue
386:Natural
200:improve
134:scholar
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573:-wide
571:Europe
424:boiler
332:carbon
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882:eISSN
833:(PDF)
808:(PDF)
720:BLEVE
604:In a
280:steam
265:ocean
141:JSTOR
127:books
1052:PMID
890:ISSN
841:2023
822:ISSN
790:help
695:and
579:lava
563:SL-1
552:SL-1
459:and
400:lava
261:lava
113:news
23:and
1143:doi
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