A Finite Element model for pre- and posttest calculations of the forever-experiments

To get an improved understanding of the processes occurring during the late phase of a core melt down accident the FOREVER-experiments are currently underway.
These experiments are simulating the behaviour of the RPV lower head under the thermal loads of a convecting melt pool with decay heating and simultaneous pressure loads. The geometrical scale of the experiments is 1:10 compared to a common Light Water Reactor.
Due to the multi axial creep deformation of the vessel with a non-uniform temperature field these experiments are on the one hand an excellent source of data to validate numerical creep models. On the other hand the results of pre-test calculations can be used to optimize the experimental procedure.