The SNS target module is a stainless-steel structure that contains and directs mercury. The mercury is struck with short, intense proton pulses to create neutrons. The pulses deposit energy and cause loads on the target structure and mercury cavitation. Helium bubbles are introduced into the mercury to reduce loads and cavitation. This gas complicates the prediction of the target module’s physical response. The current method used to simulate the structural response to the proton pulse incorporates a simple but effective approach to approximate mercury cavitation effects. This method cannot account for the changes from injected non-condensable gas. The ability to model the target vessel response is a prerequisite for estimating its life. Known approaches for simulating a bubbly fluid mixture’s response are computationally expensive and impractical for detailed engineering models. A constitutive model is proposed for target mercury with injected gas bubbles, with the intent of providing more accurate mercury–vessel response behavior without the computing costs required to track individual bubbles. The model’s assumptions and a computational model embodiment are described. The bubbly mercury computational model is subjected to test problems to assess its potential utility. The model was able to better predict the effect of gas on wave propagation.

SNS目标模块是一种不锈钢结构，包含并引导汞。汞被短而强的质子脉冲撞击而产生中子。脉冲会沉积能量，并在目标结构和汞气蚀上造成负荷。将氦气气泡引入汞中，以减少负荷和气蚀。这种气体使目标模块物理响应的预测变得复杂。用于模拟对质子脉冲的结构响应的当前方法采用了一种简单但有效的方法来近似汞气穴效应。这种方法不能解决注入的不可凝气体的变化。对目标血管反应进行建模的能力是估算其寿命的先决条件。模拟气泡状流体混合物的响应的已知方法在计算上昂贵并且对于详细的工程模型是不切实际的。提出了一个带有注入气泡的目标汞的本构模型，目的是提供更准确的汞容器响应行为，而无需跟踪单个气泡所需的计算成本。描述了模型的假设和计算模型的实施例。气泡状汞计算模型要经受测试问题，以评估其潜在效用。该模型能够更好地预测气体对波传播的影响。