0000000000636714

AUTHOR

Carlos A. Silva

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…

research product

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…

research product

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…

research product

Overview of the JET results in support to ITER

The 2014–2016 JET results are reviewed in the light of their significance for optimising the ITER research plan for the active and non-active operation. More than 60 h of plasma operation with ITER first wall materials successfully took place since its installation in 2011. New multi-machine scaling of the type I-ELM divertor energy flux density to ITER is supported by first principle modelling. ITER relevant disruption experiments and first principle modelling are reported with a set of three disruption mitigation valves mimicking the ITER setup. Insights of the L–H power threshold in Deuterium and Hydrogen are given, stressing the importance of the magnetic configurations and the recent m…

research product