Assessment of the Thermo-mechanical Performances of a DEMO Water-Cooled Liquid Metal Blanket Module

Within the framework of DEMO R&D activities, a research cooperation has been launched between ENEA-Brasimone, CEA-Saclay and the University of Palermo to investigate the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the outboard equatorial module of the DEMO1 Water-Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) blanket, both under normal operation and over-pressurization steady state scenarios. The research campaign has been carried out following a theoretical-computational approach based on the finite element method (FEM) and adopting a qualified commercial FEM code. In particular, two different three-dimensional FEM models of the WCLL blanket module have been set-up to be used for normal operation and over-pressurization analysis, respectively. The former reproduces realistically the WCLL blanket module central poloidal–radial region, including one breeder cell in the toroidal direction and all the five cells in the radial one. The latter simulates the entire module segment box, without including the breeder and its cooling tubes. Two set of uncoupled steady state thermo-mechanical analyses have been carried out with reference to the investigated loading scenarios. In particular, under normal operation scenario (level A) the module has been supposed to undergo both 15.5 MPa coolant pressure on its cooling channels walls and thermal deformations due to the flat-top plasma operational state thermal field, while under over-pressurization scenario (level D) it has been assumed to experience 15.5 MPa coolant pressure on its segment box internal walls while operating at normal operation thermal level. Results obtained are presented and critically discussed according to the SDC IC code.