Thermal-mechanical and thermal-hydraulic integrated study of the Helium-Cooled Lithium Lead Test Blanket Module

Abstract

The Helium-Cooled Lithium Lead Test Blanket Module (HCLL-TBM) is one of the twoTBMto be installed in an ITER equatorial port since day 1 of operation, with the specific aim to investigate the main concept functionalities and issues such as high efficiency helium cooling, resistance to thermo-mechanical stresses, manufacturing techniques, as well as tritium transport, magneto-hydrodynamics effects and corrosion. In particular, in order to show a DEMO-relevant thermo-mechanical and thermal–hydraulic behavior, the HCLL-TBM has to meet several requirements especially as far as its coolant thermofluid-dynamic conditions and its thermal–mechanical field are concerned. The present paper is focused on the assessment of the HCLL-TBM thermal–mechanical performances under both nominal and accidental load conditions, by adopting a computational approach based on the Finite Element Method. A realistic 3D finite element model of the whole HCLL-TBM, in the horizontal first wall design has been set up, consisting of about 597,000 elements and 767,000 nodes. In particular, since the thermal fields of both the module and the coolant are strictly coupled, the helium flow domain has been modeled too and a thermal contact model has been set up to properly simulate the convective heat transfer between the structure wall and the coolant. Pure conductive heat transfer has been assumed within the Pb–Li eutectic alloy of the breeder units. The volumetric density of the nuclear deposited power, recently calculated at Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo by the MCNP 4C code, has been applied as distributed thermal load in order to assess the potential influence on the module thermo-mechanical performances of the markedly non-uniform poloidal and toroidal distributions that have been predicted within the Segment Box. Different loading scenarios have been considered as to the heat flux onto the module First Wall. Steady state and transient thermal–mechanical analyses have been carried out and the detailed spatial distributions of the thermal and mechanical fields obtained as to the considered loading scenarios are reported, together with a critical analysis intended to verify their compliance with the agreed design criteria and the DEMO relevance requirements.