Speaker
Olivier Doyen
(Laboratoire des Technologies d’Assemblage)
Description
This work was performed by CEA within the framework of one specific contract concerning the development for ITER of manufacturing procedures for the industrial ATMOSTAT (ALCEN group) and Fusion For Energy (F4E). The HCLL-TBM (Helium Cooled Lithium Lead Test Blanket Module) box assembly development implies the welding development of the following components: the Box and the Stiffening Grid (SG) made of vertical and horizontal Stiffening Plates (noted respectively v-SP and h-SP). This multi-chamber box structure in EUROFER97 steel is made of plates cooled by meandering multiple channels where circulates pressurized helium. For the assembly of these components, characterized by numerous multipass welds, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) is envisaged as reference process. Moreover, the TBM has large dimensions and thin plates which makes it very sensitive to welding distortions and is problematic regarding the assembly feasibility and compliance with geometric tolerances. This paper presents the numerical simulation and experimental work performed to optimize the v-SP to box assembly sequence, which is the most critical assembly regarding distortions, in order to minimize welding distortions.
One of the technical lock of this study is high calculation times needed for this big component which implies to set up a simplified welding simulation method. The study is composed of two main phases: an experimental-numerical study of a T-joint fillet mock-up GTAW welding (representative of TBM welds) used to develop the welding procedure and to validate a simplified simulation methods (chosen by testing and comparing two methods); and a numerical optimization of the v-SP to box welding via the simplified method validated in the first phase. The calculation and comparison of three different v-SP to box welding sequences allowed us to identify the best sequence regarding welding distortions to apply experimentally in the future.
Co-authors
Antonella Li Puma
(Laboratoire des Technologies d’Assemblage, CEA, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France)
Laurent Forest
(Laboratoire des Technologies d’Assemblage, CEA, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France)
Milan Zmitko
(Fusion for Energy (F4E), Josep Pla 2, Barcelona, Spain)
Noel Thomas
(ATMOSTAT, F-94815 Villejuif, France)
Olivier Doyen
(Laboratoire des Technologies d’Assemblage, CEA, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France)
