Thermodynamic estimation of limit values for indicators of explosion products in gaseous environments of nuclear fuel cycle facilities

Thermodynamic estimation of limit values for indicators of explosion products in gaseous environments of nuclear fuel cycle facilities.

Sokolov I. P., Ponizov A. V., Popkov V. A., Sharafutdinov R. B.

Estimation of pressure and temperature values for explosion products in gaseous environments is essential for analysis of potential accidents at nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Nowadays, we lack calculation methods for explosion parameters in real-time process conditions of radiochemical environments.
In this regard, the interest is focused on calculation of temperature and pressure limit values for products of exothermic reactions being analyzed, which depend on the adopted thermodynamic limits. The framework of such limits contains various options of adiabatic conditions of the reaction behavior. As a result, the need arises for comparison analysis of explosion indicators for various options of the adiabatic process implementation.
The article presents the thermodynamic approach to estimation of the explosion maximum pressure for products of uncontrolled gaseous reactions that can occur at nuclear fuel cycle facilities.
The analysis was carried out for various options of adiabatic conditions of exothermic reactions behavior under the explosion mode. The formula was proposed to calculate the adiabatic temperature of explosion products in the sealed equipment using reference data related to isobaric conditions.
Reduction of the calculation value of the explosion maximum pressure was demonstrated in conditions of a constant volume using isobar adiabatic temperature for the explosion products instead of the isochoric value. A thermodynamic pattern was proposed for calculation of the maximum pressure of explosion, progressing in accordance with the Poisson and Hugoniot adiabats, along with the use of the calculated value of isochoric adiabatic temperature. The explosion pressure limit values were compared for various adiabatic conditions of exothermic reaction behavior.

Keywords: thermodynamic approach, adiabatic conditions, explosion maximum pressure, nuclear fuel cycle facilities.

Article language: Russian. Pp. 18–27. [in Russian]. DOI: 10.26277/SECNRS.2023.107.1.002.