Experimental measurement of effective thermal conductivity of packed lithium-titanate pebble bed

Lithium titanate is a promising solid breeder material for the fusion reactor blanket. Packed lithium titanate pebble bed is considered for the blanket. The thermal energy; that will be produced in the bed during breeding and the radiated heat from the reactor core absorbed must be removed. So, the experimental thermal property data are important for the blanket design. In past, a significant amount of works were conducted to determine the effective thermal conductivity of packed solid breeder pebble bed, in helium atmosphere, but no flow of gas was considered. With increase in gas flow rate, effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed increases. Particle size and void fraction also affect the thermal properties of the bed significantly. An experimental facility with external heat source was designed and installed. Experiments were carried out with lithium-titanate pebbles of different sizes at variable gas flow rates and at different bed wall temperature. It was observed that effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed is a function of particle Reynolds number and temperature. From the experimental data two correlations have been developed to estimate the effective thermal conductivity of packed lithium-titanate pebble bed for different particle Reynolds number and at different temperatures. The experimental details and results are discussed in this paper.     

Investigation of the packing structure of pebble beds by DEM for CFETR WCCB

Li₂TiO₃/Be₁₂Ti mixed pebble beds with multi-sized particles are one of the potential candidates for the WCCB (water-cooled ceramic breeder blanket) of the CFETR (China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor). To meet the neutronics requirements of a WCCB, a study of the packing structure of the concerned pebble bed is necessary. In this paper, the discrete element method (DEM) is applied to produce a prototypical blanket pebble bed by directly simulating the contact state of each individual particle using basic interaction laws. According to the current simulation, the packing factor of a mono-sized pebble bed is 0.62–0.64, while the value will become more than 0.75 for Li₂TiO₃/Be₁₂Ti mixed breeding pebble bed with a diameter ratio of not less than 5 as well as an appropriate mixed volume ratio, and thus can meet the neutronics requirements.     

A non-equilibrium molecular dynamics study of the thermal conductivity of uranium dioxide

The thermal conductivity of uranium dioxide in the temperature range of 300–2400 K was estimated by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics calculation using Fourier law.The Kawamura function was adopted as the interatomic potential function.The calculated thermal conductivities are found to be strongly dependent on the temperature of the simulation cube.The thermal conductivity simulation results are compared with the experiment results and agreed well with the experimental results when the temperature is above 600 K.The thermal conductivities scale effects are found to be existed in uranium dioxide nanometer thin film.The approximate mean free paths of phonons in different temperatures can be examined.     

Thermo-mechanical analysis of the thermal shield for ITER magnet feeder

The thermal shield for ITER magnet feeder plays the role of preventing thermal radiation from the warm components to the cool superconductor and supercritical helium system. Heat loads were calculated for thermal analysis, then finite element model was established by ANSYS code. Thermal analysis was performed in order to check the temperature distribution and pressure drop of the thermal shield under normal operation state. Different materials (steel or aluminum) for the thermal shield were also checked. Thermal stress analysis was performed based on the results of thermal analyses. Compared analysis results with design criteria, it is demonstrated that the results of the simulation are within allowable design requirements and the design scheme can be applied to the detailed design.     

Thermal characterisation of ceramic/metal joining techniques for fusion applications using X-ray tomography

This work investigates the thermal performance of four novel CFC–Cu joining techniques. Two involve direct casting and brazing of Cu onto a chromium modified CFC surface, the other two pre-coat a brazing alloy with chromium using galvanisation and sputtering processes. The chromium carbide layer at the interface has been shown to improve adhesion. Thermal conductivity across the join interface was measured by laser flash analysis. X-ray tomography was performed to investigate micro-structures that might influence the thermal behaviour. It was found that thermal conductivity varied by up to 72%. Quantification of the X-ray tomography data showed that the dominant feature in reducing thermal conductivity was the lateral spread of voids at the interface. Correlations were made to estimate the extent of this effect.     

Experimental testing of impact limiters for RAM packages under drop test conditions

In context with new cask designs and their approval procedure, the experimental testing of impact limiters under drop test conditions becomes more and more important in order to assess the damage mechanics behaviour and safety margins for validation reasons. In recent years, various designs of impact limiters have been tested by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing within specific component testing and particularly with regard to type B package design approval procedures. The paper focuses on the experimental realisation of impact limiter tests and presents implemented measurement techniques to determine the amount of deformation and to explain the impact behaviour by means of photogrammetric metrology and three-dimensional fringe projection method, high speed motion analysis and adjusted deceleration measurements.     

Improvement of non destructive infrared test bed SATIR for examination of actively cooled tungsten armour Plasma Facing Components

For steady state (magnetic) thermonuclear fusion devices which need large power exhaust capability and have to withstand heat fluxes in the range 10–20 MW m^?2, advanced Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) have been developed. The importance of PFCs for operating tokamaks requests to verify their manufacturing quality before mounting. SATIR is an IR test bed validated and recognized as a reliable and suitable tool to detect cooling defaults on PFCs with CFC armour material. Current tokamak developments implement metallic armour materials for first wall and divertor; their low emissivity causes several difficulties for infrared thermography control. We present SATIR infrared thermography test bed improvements for W monoblocks components without defect and with calibrated defects. These results are compared to ultrasonic inspection. This study demonstrates that SATIR method is fully usable for PFCs with low emissivity armour material.     

Development of advanced expansion due to compression (A-EDC) test method for safety evaluation of degraded nuclear fuel cladding materials

Expansion due to compression (EDC) test has been applied to evaluate the performance of nuclear fuel claddings where pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) is introduced by swelling of fuel pellets and is triggered by the larger hoop deformation of the pellets, especially during accidental transients. The purpose of this study is to modify the EDC test to describe PCMI, specimen volume reduction and others. Ring-shaped specimens were cut from Zry-4 cladding tubes. Cylindrical metal pellets with 8 mm in diameter and 15 mm in maximum height were used as inner pellets. Expansion of the specimens due to the inner pellet compression was performed at room temperature. The experimental data were further analyzed by finite element method. Through the survey in the variation of the specimen and core, specimen size and inner pellet geometry were optimized. Excellent reproducibility with less error was confirmed. The uniaxial tension condition in the hoop direction up to the specimen failure was confirmed. Hoop stress–hoop strain curves were successfully derived.     

Pt-SDB疏水催化剂应用于氢-水同位素交换的实验研究

采用气?液逆流方式对苯乙烯-二乙烯基苯共聚物担载金属铂(Pt-SDB)疏水催化剂应用于HD(g)/H2O(l)体系的氢同位素交换进行了实验室规模的中试实验研究;;对该实验系统和Pt-SDB的催化性能作出了评价;;得出了Pt-SDB的总体积传质系数Kya值和各种工艺条件。实验结果表明:当氢气流速为0.2m/s、温度为65℃时;;Pt-SDB与亲水性金属填料按1∶4的体积比混合装柱的Kya平均值达到41.5mol·m?·s?。