Triggering steam explosions of single drops of a molten ferrosilicon alloy with a simple encapsulated mechanical impacto
- PDF / 2,398,527 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 67 Downloads / 136 Views
I. INTRODUCTION
STEAM explosions sometimes occur when a hot molten material contacts liquid water. Even though these explosions have the potential to cause serious accidents in the metals, nuclear, and other industries, they are not well understood. In order to provide information about the nature, energetics, and possible ways to suppress these explosions, many experiments have been performed in which both large and small quantities of molten materials have been brought together with liquid water in various configurations (reviewed in References 1 through 4). The release of single drops of molten materials into water is an important configuration for the experimental study of steam explosions. Because of the small scale, the experiments can provide good reproducibility and control of variables safely, at low cost, and with rapid turnaround times. Also, in these experiments, high-quality diagnostics during and after the explosions may be combined with the capability for quantitatively collecting debris and gases generated during the interactions. Moreover, single drop experiments can produce quantitative inputs for the development and validation of theories to predict the effects of full-scale steam explosions and thus reduce the need for more costly, hazardous, and often difficult-to-interpret experiments with large amounts of melt. Although single drops of some molten materials explode spontaneously when released into water, e.g., Sn, Pb, and Bi,[5,6,7] drops of other melts fall benignly through the water and freeze without fragmentation or other violent interaction, e.g., Fe, Al, Al-Li alloys, and FeO'1.25.[8–12] Differences between the abilities of various melts to explode spontaneously often occur even though the respective temperatures of both melt and water may lie in the same ranges. LLOYD S. NELSON, Senior Scientist, PAUL W. BROOKS, Instrumentation Specialist, RICCARDO BONAZZA, Associate Professor, and MICHAEL L. CORRADINI, Professor, are with the Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 537061687 Manuscript submitted January 20, 1999. METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
When the drops of melt do not explode spontaneously, explosions can be triggered in many cases by introducing pressure disturbances into the water. Several techniques have been developed for generating pressure transients in water for triggering steam explosions. These include application of mechanical impacts to the walls or bottom of the water chamber,[13–16] the use of shock tubes,[17] underwater electrical discharges,[9,10,12,18–23] chemically enhanced electrical discharges,[24] and the underwater detonation of small amounts of high explosives.[22,23,25] Recently, we have begun a laboratory study of single drops of molten ferrosilicon alloys (nominally 75 wt pct Si25 wt pct Fe) when released into water. This study was motivated by the water granulation technique for producing industrial quantities of solidified globules of the alloy. In this process, drops of the molten alloy are sprayed
Data Loading...
