Plasma disruption modeling and simulation

Technical Report · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10167465· OSTI ID:10167465

Hassanein, A

Disruptions in tokamak reactors are considered a limiting factor to successful operation and a reliable design. The behavior of plasma-facing components during a disruption is critical to the overall integrity of the reactor. Erosion of plasma facing-material (PFM) surfaces due to thermal energy dump during the disruption can severely limit the lifetime of these components and thus diminish the economic feasibility of the reactor.Initially, the incident plasma particles will deposit their energy directly on the PFM surface, heating it to a very high temperature where ablation occurs. Models for plasma-material interactions have been developed and used to predict material thermal evolution during the disruption. Within a few microseconds after the start of the disruption, enough material is vaporized to intercept most of the incoming plasma particles. Models for plasma-vapor interactions are necessary to predict vapor cloud expansion and hydrodynamics. Continuous heating of the vapor cloud above the material surface by the incident plasma particles will excite, ionize, and cause vapor atoms to emit thermal radiation. Accurate models for radiation transport in the vapor are essential for calculating the net radiated flux to the material surface which determines the final erosion thickness and consequently component lifetime. A comprehensive model that takes into account various stages of plasma-material interaction has been developed and used to predict erosion rates during reactor disruption, as well during induced disruption in laboratory experiments. Differences between various simulation experiments and reactor conditions are discussed. A two-dimensional radiation transport model has been developed to particularly simulate the effect of small test samples used in laboratory disruption experiments.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10167465
• Report Number(s): ANL/TD/CP--82096; CONF-940630--34; ON: DE94015095
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700310
700480
ABLATION
BERYLLIUM
CARBON
COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT
ENERGY DEPOSITION
EROSION
EVAPORATION
MATERIALS STUDIES
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DISRUPTION
PLASMA SIMULATION
RADIATION TRANSPORT
THEORETICAL DATA
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR MATERIALS
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS