Modeling Corrosion in Oxygen Controlled LBE Systems with Coupling of Chemical Kinetics and Hydrodynamics - Phase Three

The proposed work will combine chemical kinetics and hydrodynamics in target and test-loop lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) systems to model system corrosion effects. This approach will result in a predicative tool that can be validated with corrosion test data, used to systematically design tests and interpret the results, and provide guidance for optimization in LBE system designs. The task includes two subtasks. The first subtask is to try to develop the necessary predictive tools to be able to predict the levels of oxygen and corrosion products close to the boundary layer through the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. The second subtask is to predict the kinetics in the corrosion process between the LBE and structural materials by incorporating pertinent information from the first subtask. In many cases a component fails because of the combined effect of mechanical or hydraulic factors and corrosion. Such cases are of three types: stress corrosion, corrosion fatigue, and liquid-velocity effects (corrosion, erosion and cavitations). The compatibility issues arising from the interaction of liquid metals, corrosion/dissolution, with structural materials at temperatures of interest are important while lead alloy as a coolant for a fast breeder type nuclear reactor is used. The third year of the second subtask will focus on the kinetics of the dissolution/deposition process as a function of temperatures, flow velocities, dissolved metal concentrations and the oxygen potentials of the system, the kinetics of film formations in the presence of oxygen, and the