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 …

Out of Pile Thermo-Mechanical Testing of Breeder Pebble Beds for HCPB TBM for ITER

Final report on the test campaigns HELICA I-II performed in HEFUS facility

Preparation of HEXCALIBER tests and preliminary thermo-mechanical analyses

Progress in the benchmark exercise for analyzing the lithiate breeder pebble bed thermo-mechanical behaviour

The Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Blanket is one of the reference concepts for the European Breeding Blanket Programme for DEMO. In the reference blanket module, alternate layers of lithiated ceramics and beryllium pebbles act, respectively, as tritium breeder and neutron multiplier. The thermo-mechanical behaviour of both the pebble beds and their performances in reactor relevant conditions are also dependent on the pebble size and cell geometries (bed thickness, pebble packing factor, bed thermal conductivity). Therefore, in the EU Fusion Technology Programme, several out-of-pile experimental test campaigns have been performed to determine these behaviours. Theoretical calculations have…