Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of the EU DEMO Helium-Cooled Pebble Bed Breeding Blanket Using the GETTHEM Code
- 23 January 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
- Vol. 46 (5), 1436-1445
- https://doi.org/10.1109/tps.2018.2791678
Abstract
The general tokamak thermal-hydraulic model (GETTHEM) has been updated to the most recent version of the EU DEMO helium-cooled pebble bed breeding blanket (BB) design. The GETTHEM results are first benchmarked in a controlled case against the results of 3-D computational fluid-dynamics computations, showing an acceptable accuracy despite the inherent simplifications in the GETTHEM model. GETTHEM is then applied to the evaluation of the poloidal hot spot temperature distribution in an entire BB segment, showing that the maximum temperature in the EUROFER structures overcomes the design limit of 550 °C by more than 50 °C in some blanket modules. A possible mitigation strategy is then proposed and analyzed, based on the idea of cooling the first wall in parallel with the breeding zone, showing that this solution would allow having the EUROFER in its working temperature range in the entire segment, although at the expense of a larger pressure drop.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- WCLL breeding blanket design and integration for DEMO 2015: status and perspectivesFusion Engineering and Design, 2017
- A new HCPB breeding blanket for the EU DEMO: Evolution, rationale and preliminary performancesFusion Engineering and Design, 2017
- Dynamic thermal-hydraulic modelling of the EU DEMO WCLL breeding blanket cooling loopsFusion Engineering and Design, 2017
- Economic analysis in risk managementPublished by Taylor & Francis Ltd ,2017
- Dynamic thermal-hydraulic modelling of the EU DEMO HCPB breeding blanket cooling loopsProgress in Nuclear Energy, 2016
- Conceptual Design of the EU-DEMO Dual Coolant Lithium Lead Equatorial ModuleIEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2016
- Preliminary steady state and transient thermal analysis of the new HCPB blanket for EU DEMO reactorInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2016
- Objectives and status of EUROfusion DEMO blanket studiesFusion Engineering and Design, 2016
- Development of the Helium Cooled Lithium Lead blanket for DEMOFusion Engineering and Design, 2014
- Materials and design of the European DEMO blanketsJournal of Nuclear Materials, 2004