The use of an electrothermal plasma gun to simulate the extremely high heat flux conditions of a tokamak disruption
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Disruption damage conditions for future large tokamaks like ITER are nearly impossible to simulate on current tokamaks. The electrothermal plasma source SIRENS has been designed, constructed, and operated to produce high density (> 10[sup 25]/m[sup 3]), low temperature (1-3 eV) plasma formed by the ablation of the insulator with currents of up to 100 kA (100 [mu]s pulse length) and energies up to 15 kJ. The source heat fluence (variable from 0.2 to 7 MJ/m[sup 2]) is adequate for simulation of the thermal quench phase of plasma disruption in future fusion tokamaks. Different materials have been exposed to the high heat flux in SIRENS, where comparative erosion behavior was obtained. Vapor shield phenomena has been characterized for different materials, and the energy transmission factor through the shielding layer is obtained. The device is also equipped with a magnet capable of producing a parallel magnetic field (up to 16 T) over a 8 msec pulse length. The magnetic field is produced to decrease the turbulent energy transport through the vapor shield, which provides further reduction of surface erosion (magnetic vapor shield effect).
- OSTI ID:
- 5144086
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Fusion Energy; (United States), Vol. 12:3; ISSN 0164-0313
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Studies to reduce material erosion in electrothermal launchers
Final Report: Safety of Plasma Components and Aerosol Transport During Hard Disruptions and Accidental Energy Release in Fusion Reactor