0000000000052905
AUTHOR
E. Platacis
Characterization and thermomechanical assessment of a SiC-sandwich material for Flow Channel Inserts in DCLL blankets
Abstract Flow Channel Inserts (FCIs) are key elements in the high-temperature Dual Coolant Lead Lithium (DCLL) blanket, since they insulate electrically the flowing PbLi to avoid MHD effects and protect the steel structure from the hot liquid metal. SiC-based materials are main candidates for high-temperature FCIs, being a dense-porous SiC-based sandwich material an attractive option. The present work is focused on the development of such a SiC-based material. On the one hand, in order to assess the suitability of the concept for FCIs, the main results of a stress analysis, MHD and heat transfer simulations are summarized. On the other hand, the experimental production of the SiC-based mate…
Interaction of a Liquid Gallium Jet with ISTTOK Edge Plasmas
The use of liquid metals as plasma facing components in tokamaks has recently experienced a renewed interest stimulated by their advantages in the development of a fusion reactor. Liquid metals have been proposed to solve problems related to the erosion and neutronic activation of solid walls submitted to high power loads allowing an efficient heat exhaust from fusion devices. Presently the most promising candidate materials are lithium and gallium. However, lithium has a short liquid state range when compared, for example, with gallium that has essentially better thermal properties and lower vapor pressure. To explore further these properties, ISTTOK tokamak is being used to test the inter…
Numerical and experimental MHD studies of Lead-Lithium liquid metal flows in multichannel test-section at high magnetic fields
Abstract Numerical simulation and experiments have been performed at high magnetic fields (1–3T) to study the MHD assisted molten Lead-Lithium (PbLi) flow in a model test-section which has typical features of multiple parallel channel flows as foreseen in various blanket module of ITER. The characteristics Hartmann number of the presented case study is up to 1557 which is relevant to typical fusion blanket conditions. Symbols B0, a, σ, μ in the definition of Hartmann number are strength of the applied magnetic field, characteristic length scale which is half the channel width parallel to the magnetic field, electrical conductivity and dynamic viscosity of PbLi respectively. Flow distributio…
Preliminary corrosion studies of P-91 in flowing lead–lithium with and without magnetic field for Indian lead–lithium ceramic breeder test blanket module
To study the corrosion of P-91 (9% chromium and 1% molybdenum) material with lead–lithium (Pb–Li) eutectic, two experiments were carried out in a forced convection loop, at eutectic temperature of 550 °C. The first experiment was carried out at a velocity of 15 cm s−1 for 1000 h and the second experiment, at a velocity of 30 cm s−1 for 2700 h. In both the experiments, P-91 sample coupons were exposed to Pb–Li flow in the presence and absence of magnetic field. Samples were analyzed using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA). Micro-Vickers hardness testing was also carried out. Dissolution of elements into liquid metal is the main…
Numerical modeling and design of a disk-type rotating permanent magnet induction pump
Abstract Electromagnetic induction pumps with rotating permanent magnets appear to be the most promising devices to transport liquid metals in high-temperature applications. Here we present a numerical methodology to simulate the operation of one particular modification of these types of pumps: a disk-type induction pump. The numerical model allows for the calculation and analysis of the flow parameters, including the pressure–flow rate characteristics of the pump. The simulations are based on an iterative fully coupled scheme for electromagnetic and hydrodynamic solvers. The developed model is verified by comparing with experimental data obtained using a Pb-Bi loop test facility, for press…
Liquid metal MHD experimental activities for LLCB TBM development
Abstract In Indian Lead Lithium cooled Ceramic Breeder (LLCB) blanket concept, Lead–Lithium (Pb–Li) liquid metal is used to extract heat from its own bulk volume and also from the neighboring solid breeder zones. The moderate flow velocity of Pb–Li inside the module can be significantly modified due to MHD effects, which arise because of the presence of strong toroidal magnetic field. Recently, two MHD experiments have been jointly carried out at Institute of Physics, University of Latvia (IPUL) with hot Pb–Li (∼350 C) as the working fluid under a strong transverse magnetic field of up to ∼4.0 T. The uncoated test sections are made of SS316L material and consist of LLCB TBM relevant flow ge…
A comparison between the chemical behaviour of lead-gold and lead-bismuth eutectics towards 316L stainless steel
Radiochimica acta, 101 (10)
Magnetic field effect on the corrosion processes at the Eurofer–Pb–17Li flow interface
Abstract Structural and elemental analyses of the RAFM steel (EUROFER 97) interface with flowing Pb–17Li eutectic (velocity 5 cm/s at 550 °C, 1000 h) under the action of a strong magnetic field (B = 1.7 T) were performed using optical microscopy, SEM, confocal microscopy, precision micro-hardness methods, SIMS and point or line-scan EDX analyses. The results show that the magnetic field induces a faster crushing of martensite into the grains, a deeper dissolution of grain boundaries, an enhancement of the Fe and Cr mass transfer and a fast detachment of corrosion layers due to MHD effects.
Internal geometry and coolant choices for solid high power neutron spallation targets
Abstract The next generation of neutron spallation sources envisages high power proton beam interaction with a heavy metal target. Solid targets have potentially higher spallation efficiency due to the possibility to use metals with higher density than used in liquid metal targets, but to realize this potential the solid fraction must be high enough. As the power released in the form of heat can reach several MW in the target volume of typically 10 l, target cooling can be a serious challenge. Heat evacuation efficiency for different solid fraction geometries at high power is analyzed for different coolant options (helium, water and gallium) using empirical correlations for friction factors…
Gravitational flow of a thin film of liquid metal in a strong magnetic field
Abstract The influence of a poloidal magnetic field of the spherical Tokamak on super thin (h ≈ 0.1 mm) film flow of liquid metal driven by gravity over the surface of the cooled divertor plate is addressed. The experimental setup developed at the Institute of Physics, University of Latvia (IPUL) is described, which makes it possible to drive and visualize such liquid metal flows in the solenoid of the superconducting magnet “Magdalena”. As applied to the above setup, the magnetic field effect on the operation of the capillary system of liquid metal flow distribution (CSFD) is evaluated by using molten metal (lithium or eutectic InGaSn alloy) with a very small linear flowrate q ≤ 1 mm2/s, s…
Temperature dependence of the rate constant of hydrogen isotope interactions with a lithium capillary-porous system under reactor irradiation
Abstract Experiments with a sample of a lithium capillary-porous system (CPS) were performed at the reactor IVG-1.M of the Institute of Atomic Energy NNC RK to study the effects of neutron irradiation on the parameters of hydrogen isotope interactions with a lithium CPS. The absorption technique was used during the experiments, and this technique allowed the temperature dependences of the hydrogen isotope interaction rate constants with the lithium CPS to be obtained under various reactor powers. The obtained dependencies were used to determine the main interaction parameters: the activation energies and the pre-exponents of the Arrhenius dependence of the hydrogen interaction rate constant…
Interaction of a liquid gallium jet with the tokamak ISTTOK edge plasma
Abstract The interaction of a liquid gallium jet with plasma has been investigated in the tokamak ISTTOK. This paper presents a description of the conceived experimental setup, a detailed characterization of the produced jets and the first experimental results related to the gallium–plasma interaction. A stable jet has been obtained, which was not noticeably affected by magnetic field transients. ISTTOK has been successfully operated with the gallium jet without degradation of the discharge or a significant plasma contamination by liquid metal. This observation is supported by spectroscopic measurements showing that gallium radiation is limited to the region around the jet. Furthermore, the…
A comparative study on the compatibility of liquid lead–gold eutectic and liquid lead–bismuth eutectic with T91 and SS 316LN steels
Abstract Liquid lead–gold eutectic (LGE) is considered as a potential target material for high power spallation sources. In the present work, the corrosion effects of LGE on T91 and SS 316LN steels have been investigated in comparison with that of liquid lead–bismuth eutectic (LBE) under the same testing conditions. Two tests were conducted at 400 °C for 1800 h and at 450 °C for 1300 h, in which specimens of the two steels were exposed to 1 m/s flowing LGE and LBE. Surface inspections showed that the specimens underwent a mixed corrosion mode of dissolution and oxidation. The results obtained from the SS 316LN specimens are very interesting. Firstly, EDX (electron energy dispersion X-ray sp…
Riga experience in spallation neutron target related investigations
Abstract Mercury has awakened interest as a potential material for spallation neutron source targets. Institute of Physics, University of Latvia has a 30 years experience of investigations in mercury. As specially projected building includes a 350 m2 experimental hall. The largest loop, containing 5×103 kg of Hg, can be transferred for solution of different tasks. As the first example results are presented when integral developed pressure and local (distribution of void fraction) characteristics of a two-phase mercury/gas riser were investigated. Second example – investigation of velocity fields and heat transfer conditions close to the beam entrance window in the SINQ target thermohydrauli…
ISTTOK tokamak plasmas influence on a liquid gallium jet dynamic behavior
Abstract The main concern in using free flowing liquid metals in fusion devices is related to their interaction with magnetic fields. On ISTTOK tokamak, liquid gallium jets are injected deep into the plasma along a vertical direction. The influence of the plasma interaction on the jet has been investigated monitoring the liquid metal behavior using a fast frame camera. A radial shift on its trajectory has been detected and found to depend on the toroidal magnetic field magnitude and principally on the plasma position within the chamber. The analysis performed to understand the dynamics of the jet perturbation by the plasma is presented in this paper. The jet surface temperature increase dur…
First Results of the Testing of the Liquid Gallium Jet Limiter Concept for ISTTOK
The use of liquid metals as plasma facing components in tokamaks has recently experienced a renewed interest stimulated by their advantages to the development of a fusion reactor. Liquid metals have been proposed to solve problems related to the erosion and neutronic activation of solid walls submitted to high power loads allowing an efficient heat exhaustion from fusion devices. Presently the most promising materials are Lithium and Gallium. ISTTOK, a small size tokamak, will be used to test the behavior of a liquid Gallium jet in the vacuum chamber and its influence on the plasma. This paper presents a description of the conceived setup as well as experimental results. The liquid Gallium …
Liquid metal MHD studies with non-magnetic and ferro-magnetic structural material
Abstract In most of the liquid metal MHD experiments reported in the literature to study liquid breeder blanket performance, SS316/SS304 grade steels are used as the structural material which is non-magnetic. On the other hand, the structural material for fusion blanket systems has been proposed to be ferritic martensitic grade steel (FMS) which is ferromagnetic in nature. In the recent experimental campaign, liquid metal MHD experiments have been carried out with two identical test sections: one made of SS316L (non-magnetic) and another with SS430 (ferromagnetic), to compare the effect of structural materials on MHD phenomena for various magnetic fields (up to 4 T). The maximum Hartmann nu…
Liquid gallium jet–plasma interaction studies in ISTTOK tokamak
Abstract Liquid metals have been pointed out as a suitable solution to solve problems related to the use of solid walls submitted to high power loads allowing, simultaneously, an efficient heat exhaustion process from fusion devices. The most promising candidate materials are lithium and gallium. However, lithium has a short liquid state temperature range when compared with gallium. To explore further this property, ISTTOK tokamak is being used to test the interaction of a free flying liquid gallium jet with the plasma. ISTTOK has been successfully operated with this jet without noticeable discharge degradation and no severe effect on the main plasma parameters or a significant plasma conta…
Neutron Radiography Visualization of Solid Particles in Stirring Liquid Metal
Abstract This paper presents the analysis of the first dynamic neutron radiography experiment that visualized motion of solid particles in liquid metal, which was stirred by a system of four counter-rotating magnets. The paper also contains the quantitative results derived from neutron images: the distribution of particle concentration, number of admixed particles and velocities as functions of the magnet rotation speed.
Experimental setup for analysis of sorption and desorption of tritium in liquid lithium under different external conditions
An original complex device has been designed and created specially for this research. Some of tritium sorption and thermal desorption in liquid lithium experiments has been successfully done already. First experiment series were carried out under reduced pressure (vacuum) to rule out other operating gases (like Ar) that may squeeze out tritium from lithium. Experiments showed good tritium desorption from lithium which highly depends on the temperature. A proportional gas counter tritium monitor was used to collect data from tritium thermal desorption experiments.
3D MHD lead–lithium liquid metal flow analysis and experiments in a Test-Section of multiple rectangular bends at moderate to high Hartmann numbers
Abstract Experiments with liquid lead–lithium (Pb–Li) were carried out in a stainless steel (SS) Test Section (TS) consisting of multiple 90° bends for various flow rates and applied magnetic fields of up to 4 T. Characteristic MHD flow parameter Hartmann number, Ha ( = B 0 a σ / μ , Ha2 is the ratio of electromagnetic force to viscous force) and interaction parameter, N ( = σ a B 0 2 / ρ U , N is the ratio of electromagnetic force to inertial force) of these experiments were varied from Ha = 515 to 2060 and N = 25 to 270 by changing the applied magnetic field and flow rates respectively. Three dimensional numerical simulations have been carried out using MHD module of FLUENT code. The meas…
Corrosion Phenomena of Eurofeer Steel in Pb-17Li Stationary Flow at Magnetic Field
Search of new energy sources draws the increasing attention to use for this purpose of reactors. In the Europe some years the program EUROATOM uniting scientific of the many countries for the decision of constructive problems at designing of fusion reactors operates. One of the main things in this program is the problem of liquid metals breeder blanket behaviour. Structural material of blanket should meet high requirements because of extreme operating conditions. Therefore the knowledge of the effect of metals flow velocity, temperatures and also a neutron irradiation and a magnetic field on the corrosion processes are necessary. At the moment the eutectic lead -lithium (Pb-17Li) is conside…