Validation of a CFD Condensation Model Based on Heat and Mass Transfer Analogy by TOSQAN Facility ISP47 Test

The content of this paper is focused on a computational fluid dynamics analysis of the test performed within the facility TOSQAN as a part of the International Standard Problem 47 (ISP 47). The aim of the study is to contribute to the understanding of the heat and mass transfer mechanisms and to check the possibility to use a commercial CFD code for simulating the mass transfer phenomena of interest in nuclear reactor containment design and safety analysis. In this aim, the FLUENT 6.2 code has been used. The effect of the condensation rate onto the vessel walls was simulated by appropriate source terms introduced by user-defined subroutines into the mass, energy and momentum balance equations. In the paper the time trends of the average temperature and pressure of the atmosphere inside the TOSQAN vessel have been compared with the available experimental data, obtaining a good agreement. Spatial profiles have been also analysed and compared with the experimental ones for the main physical variables in the first, second and fourth steady-state phases which the test consists of. (authors)