Cavitation Damage Experiments for Mercury Spallation Targets At the LANSCE WNR in 2008

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2009.10.034· OSTI ID:976028

Riemer, Bernie ^[1]; Wendel, Mark W ^[1]; Felde, David K ^[1]

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1. ORNL

Proton beam experiments investigating cavitation damage in short pulse mercury spallation targets were performed at LANSCE WNR in July of 2008. They included two main areas for investigation: damage dependence on mercury velocity using geometry more prototypic to the SNS target than previously employed and damage dependence on incident proton beam flux intensity. The flow dependence experiment employed six test targets with mercury velocity in the channel ranging from 0 to more than 4 m/s. Each was hit with 100 WNR beam pulses with peak proton flux equivalent to that of SNS operating at 2.7 MW. Damage dependence on incident proton beam flux intensity was also investigated with three intensity levels used on simple rectangular shaped targets without mercury flow. Intensity variation was imposed by focusing the beam differently while maintaining protons per pulse. This kept total energy deposited in each target constant. A fourth test target was hit with various beams: constant protons and varied spot size; constant spot size and varied protons. No damage will be assessed in this case. Instead, acoustic emissions associated with cavitation collapse were measured by laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) from readings of exterior vessel motions as well as by mercury wetted acoustic transducers. This paper will provide a description of the experiment and present available results. Damage assessment will require several months before surface analysis can be completed and was not available in time for IWSMT-9.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 976028
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Journal Issue: 1-3 Vol. 398; ISSN 0022-3115; ISSN JNUMAM
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ACOUSTICS
CAVITATION
FOCUSING
GEOMETRY
LASERS
MERCURY
PROTON BEAMS
PROTONS
SPALLATION
TARGETS
TRANSDUCERS
VELOCITY
cavitation
laser vibrometer
mercury
spallation
target