29th Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT 2016)

P2.150 CFD simulation of the magnetohydrodynamic flow inside the WCLL breeding blanket module

6 Sep 2016, 14:20

1h 40m

Foyer 2A (2nd floor), 3A (3rd floor) (Prague Congress Centre)

Board: 150

Poster H. Fuel Cycle and Breeding Blankets P2 Poster session

Speaker

Alessandro Tassone (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Astronautica)

Description

The interaction between the molten metal and the plasma-containing magnetic field in the breeding blanket of a Tokamak fusion reactor causes the onset of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow. In order to properly design the blanket, it is important to quantify how and how much the flow features are modified compared with an ordinary hydrodynamic flow. This paper aims to characterize the evolution of the fluid inside one of the proposed concepts for DEMO, the Water-Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL), focusing on the central cell of the equatorial outboard module. The study was carried over with the CFD code ANSYS CFX-15. A preliminary validation was required in order to gauge the capability of the electromagnetic model employed by the code to deal with MHD problems. The buoyant and pressure-driven fully developed laminar flows in a square duct were selected as benchmarks and the numerical results were then compared with theoretical solutions. An excellent agreement was found for all the test cases investigated. The channel analysis was realized on a simplified version of the latest available design geometry, developed by ENEA CR Brasimone and its associated partners in the framework of the EUROFusion Power Plant Physics & Techonlogy Work Programme. The simulation highlighted various interesting features, including high velocity jets close to the baffle plate and the onset of an anti-symmetrical electric potential distribution. The electromagnetic pressure drops in the channel were also estimated and found consistent with previous results obtained for similar configurations. Follow-up activities will include the validation of the code for more complex scenarios and the extension of the analysis to the whole of the LiPb circuit to support the WCLL development.