0000000000023141
AUTHOR
G. Dell’orco
Experimental tests and thermo-mechanical analyses on the HEXCALIBER mock-up
Abstract Within the framework of the R&D activities promoted by European Fusion Development Agreement on the helium-cooled pebble bed test blanket module to be irradiated in ITER, ENEA Brasimone and the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo performed intense research activities on the modelling of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of both beryllium and lithiated ceramics pebble beds, which are envisaged to be used, respectively, as neutron multiplier and tritium breeder. In particular, at the DIN a thermo mechanical constitutive model was developed for both lithiated ceramics and beryllium pebble beds and it was successfully implemented on a commercial finite element …
A constitutive model for the thermo-mechanical behaviour of fusion-relevant pebble beds and its application to the simulation of HELICA mock-up experimental results
Abstract Within the framework of the R&D activities promoted by EFDA on the Helium-Cooled Pebble Bed Test Blanket Module to be irradiated in ITER, attention has been focused on the modelling of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of both beryllium and lithiated ceramic pebble beds that are envisaged to be used respectively as neutron multiplier and tritium breeder. This behaviour depends, mainly, on the reactor-relevant conditions, the pebble sizes and the breeder cell geometries and a general constitutive model has not yet been validated, especially for fusion-relevant applications. ENEA-Brasimone and the Department of Nuclear Engineering (DIN) of the University of Palermo have performed inten…
On the theoretical–numerical study of the HEXCALIBER mock-up thermo-mechanical behaviour
Abstract Within the framework of the R&D activities promoted by European Fusion Development Agreement on the Helium-Cooled Pebble Bed Test Blanket Module to be irradiated in ITER, ENEA Brasimone and the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo (DIN) performed intense research activities on the modelling of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of both beryllium and lithiated ceramics pebble beds, that are envisaged to be used, respectively, as neutron multiplier and tritium breeder. In particular, the DIN developed a thermo-mechanical constitutive model for these pebble beds to be validated against the HEXCALIBER mock-up test campaign, carried out at the ENEA HE-FUS3 facilit…
Numerical simulation of the transient thermal-hydraulic behaviour of the ITER blanket cooling system under the draining operational procedure
Abstract Within the framework of the research and development activities supported by the ITER Organization on the blanket system issues, an intense analysis campaign has been performed at the University of Palermo with the aim to investigate the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of the cooling system of a standard 20° sector of ITER blanket during the draining transient operational procedure. The analysis has been carried out following a theoretical-computational approach based on the finite volume method and adopting the RELAP5 system code. In a first phase, attention has been focused on the development and validation of the finite volume models of the cooling circuits of the most demanding mod…
Draining and drying process development of the Tokamak Cooling Water System of ITER
Abstract The ITER Organization (IO) developed a thermal-hydraulic (TH) model of the complex first wall and blanket (FW/BLK) cooling channels to determine gas flow rate and pressure required to effectively blow out the water in the FW/BLK. In addition, US ITER conducted experiments for selected geometries of FW/BLK flow channels to predict the blowout parameters. The analysis indicates that as low as 2 MPa of pressure difference over the blanket modules will ensure substantial evacuation of the water in blankets with just a few percent remaining in the blanket flow channels. A limited validation study indicates that the analysis yields less conservative results to compare against data collec…
Steady state and transient thermal-hydraulic characterization of full-scale ITER divertor plasma facing components
Abstract In the frame of the activities related to ITER divertor R&D, ENEA CR Brasimone was in charge by EFDA (European Fusion Development Agreement) to investigate the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of the full-scale divertor plasma facing components, i.e. the outer vertical target, the inner vertical target and the dome-liner, both in steady state and during draining and drying transient. The investigation was performed by means of both experimental test campaigns performed at ENEA CR Brasimone and theoretical simulation developed in RELAP5 Mod.3.3 environment at the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo (DIN). This paper presents the achieved experimental results fo…
On the theoretical–numerical study of the ITER Upper Port Plug structure hydraulic behaviour under steady state and draining and drying transient conditions
Abstract The ITER diagnostic Upper Port Plug (UPP) is a water-cooled stainless steel structure aimed to integrate within vacuum vessel the plasma diagnostic systems, shielding them from neutron and photon irradiation. Due to the very intense heat loads expected, a proper cooling circuit has been designed to ensure an adequate UPP cooling with an acceptable thermal rise and an unduly high pumping power and to perform its draining and drying procedure by injection of pressurized nitrogen. A theoretical research activity has been launched at the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo aiming to investigate the hydraulic behaviour of the UPP Trapezoid Section cooling circ…
A computational procedure for the investigation of whipping effect on ITER High Energy Piping and its application to the ITER divertor primary heat transfer system
Abstract The Tokamak Cooling Water System of nuclear facility has the function to remove heat from plasma facing components maintaining coolant temperatures, pressures and flow rates as required and, depending on thermal-hydraulic requirements, its systems are defined as High Energy Piping (HEP) because they contain fluids, such as water or steam, at a pressure greater than or equal to 2.0 MPa and/or at a temperature greater than or equal to 100 °C, or even gas at pressure above the atmospheric one. The French standards contemplate the need to consider the whipping effect on HEP design. This effect happens when, after a double ended guillotine break, the reaction force could create a displa…
Analysis of the steady state hydraulic behaviour of the ITER blanket cooling system
Abstract The blanket system is the ITER reactor component devoted to providing a physical boundary for plasma transients and contributing to thermal and nuclear shielding of vacuum vessel, magnets and external components. It is expected to be subjected to significant heat loads under nominal conditions and its cooling system has to ensure an adequate cooling, preventing any risk of critical heat flux occurrence while complying with pressure drop limits. At the University of Palermo a study has been performed, in cooperation with the ITER Organization, to investigate the steady state hydraulic behaviour of the ITER blanket standard sector cooling system. A theoretical–computational approach …