Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock

The divertor is a fundamental component of fusion power plants, being primarily responsible for power exhaust and impurity removal via guided plasma exhaust. Due to its position and functions, the divertor has to sustain very high heat flux arising from the plasma (up to 20 MW/m2), while experiencin...

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Main Author: Salah El-Din El-Morshedy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-09-01
Series:Nuclear Materials and Energy
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352179121001083
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author Salah El-Din El-Morshedy
author_facet Salah El-Din El-Morshedy
author_sort Salah El-Din El-Morshedy
collection DOAJ
description The divertor is a fundamental component of fusion power plants, being primarily responsible for power exhaust and impurity removal via guided plasma exhaust. Due to its position and functions, the divertor has to sustain very high heat flux arising from the plasma (up to 20 MW/m2), while experiencing an intense nuclear deposited power, which could jeopardize its structure and limit its lifetime. Therefore, attention has to be paid to the thermal–hydraulic design of its cooling system. In this work a mathematical model has been developed to investigate the steady state and transient thermal–hydraulic performance of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock. The model predicts the thermal response of the divertor structural materials and coolant tube. The coolant tube is divided into specified axial regions and the divertor plate is divided into specified radial zones, and then a two-dimensional heat conduction calculation is performed to predict the temperature distribution for both steady and transient states. A two-dimensional numerical finite difference technique is adapted in Cartesian coordinate system where the implicit scheme is used for transient calculation. The model also accounts for the melting, vaporization, and re-solidification of the upper layer of the divertor facing plasma. The selected heat transfer correlations cover all possible operating conditions of ITER under both normal and off-normal situations. The model is verified against a previous calculation in the literature for DEMO divertor at an incident surface heat flux of 10 MW/m2. The model is then used to predict the steady state thermal behaviour of the divertor under incident surface heat fluxes ranges from 2 to 20 MW/m2 for a bare cooling tube and cooling tube with swirl-tape insertion. It calculates the maximum tube surface heat flux and the minimum critical heat flux ratio for all cases as well. The model is also used to simulate the divertor materials response subjected to high heat flux during a vertical displacement event (VDE) where 60 MJ/m2 plasma energy is deposited over 500 ms.
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spelling doaj.art-5cfa6f1df9c9496a9f6cf0f33681c0ba2022-12-21T23:32:42ZengElsevierNuclear Materials and Energy2352-17912021-09-0128101035Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblockSalah El-Din El-Morshedy0Reactors Department, Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, EgyptThe divertor is a fundamental component of fusion power plants, being primarily responsible for power exhaust and impurity removal via guided plasma exhaust. Due to its position and functions, the divertor has to sustain very high heat flux arising from the plasma (up to 20 MW/m2), while experiencing an intense nuclear deposited power, which could jeopardize its structure and limit its lifetime. Therefore, attention has to be paid to the thermal–hydraulic design of its cooling system. In this work a mathematical model has been developed to investigate the steady state and transient thermal–hydraulic performance of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock. The model predicts the thermal response of the divertor structural materials and coolant tube. The coolant tube is divided into specified axial regions and the divertor plate is divided into specified radial zones, and then a two-dimensional heat conduction calculation is performed to predict the temperature distribution for both steady and transient states. A two-dimensional numerical finite difference technique is adapted in Cartesian coordinate system where the implicit scheme is used for transient calculation. The model also accounts for the melting, vaporization, and re-solidification of the upper layer of the divertor facing plasma. The selected heat transfer correlations cover all possible operating conditions of ITER under both normal and off-normal situations. The model is verified against a previous calculation in the literature for DEMO divertor at an incident surface heat flux of 10 MW/m2. The model is then used to predict the steady state thermal behaviour of the divertor under incident surface heat fluxes ranges from 2 to 20 MW/m2 for a bare cooling tube and cooling tube with swirl-tape insertion. It calculates the maximum tube surface heat flux and the minimum critical heat flux ratio for all cases as well. The model is also used to simulate the divertor materials response subjected to high heat flux during a vertical displacement event (VDE) where 60 MJ/m2 plasma energy is deposited over 500 ms.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352179121001083ITER divertorThermal-hydraulicsModelling and simulationVDE
spellingShingle Salah El-Din El-Morshedy
Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock
Nuclear Materials and Energy
ITER divertor
Thermal-hydraulics
Modelling and simulation
VDE
title Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock
title_full Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock
title_fullStr Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock
title_full_unstemmed Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock
title_short Thermal-hydraulic modelling and analysis of ITER tungsten divertor monoblock
title_sort thermal hydraulic modelling and analysis of iter tungsten divertor monoblock
topic ITER divertor
Thermal-hydraulics
Modelling and simulation
VDE
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352179121001083
work_keys_str_mv AT salaheldinelmorshedy thermalhydraulicmodellingandanalysisofitertungstendivertormonoblock