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COSMOS used to design nuclear fusion power plant
Company
UKAEA Fusion / EURATOM |
Industry
Power |
Location
U.K. |
Product Used
COSMOSM™ |
Type of Analysis
Linear Static,
Nonlinear
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More Details
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The Challenge
Generating power commercially from nuclear fusion may still be some
years away, but scientists at UKAEA Fusion / EUROTOM at the Culham Science
Centre in Oxfordshire, England are researching the structures and types
of materials that will be used in an eventual fusion power plant, using
finite element analysis techniques.
Given the extreme temperatures generated
during nuclear fusion, the fusion vessel itself has to be protected
by an inner or "first wall."
The in-service lifetime of the first
wall will be one of the factors that will strongly influence the commercial
viability of a fusion power plant. Replacing the wall will mean shutting
down fusion operations for several weeks at a time. Designing the first
wall for a fusion power plant that will last for several years is a
major engineering challenge. Current materials point to an in-service
lifetime estimate of just over two years.
The Solution
Dr. Panos J. Karditsas, a Senior Research Engineer at UKAEA Fusion Technology
Division, and his colleagues used COSMOSM to screen first wall designs.
The software is used to model the first wall's thermal and structural
loading and resulting behavior, taking into account thermal stresses,
irradiation damage and creep, for a range of materials and shapes.
The analysis revealed that a power
output variation with time (such as operation below full power load)
would result in the structure wanting to resume its original shape,
thus introducing a stress reversal that could lead to structural failure.
Further FEA and computational fluid dynamic analysis is planned for
other components of the fusion vessel, to determine thermal-hydraulic
behavior and design parameters.
Excerpted from a story which appeared
in the July 2000 issue of BENCHmark magazine. www.nafems.org
For more information, please contact Cleve Forty or Chris Carpenter
at UKAEA
Tel: +44 1235 464190
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