Abstract
Flow visualization is essential to understanding helium cooling performance. This article investigates helium flow visualization in an apparatus to support the design of the blanket first wall for a fusion reactor. Helium's safety advantages make it an attractive coolant, but effective cooling and flow visualization remain challenging. Sophisticated simulations are conducted in different test sections to address three key areas in the design of a test apparatus and cooling channel enhancements: the influence of viewing glass windows on flow patterns, the impact of increased heating, and the effectiveness of cooling structures like baffles. Viewing glass windows introduce flow recirculation region bifurcation and flow asymmetry, affecting flow patterns and necessitating careful analysis in future experiments. Increased heating results in helium flow detachment from the heated surface, leading to hot spots. Cooling structures, particularly baffles, prove effective in maintaining consistent attachment to the heated surface, improving the heat transfer performance. This study also examines a tunable parameter in the turbulence model, highlighting the importance of accurate model tuning for future fusion reactor cooling designs. With an imminent helium flow visualization facility, these simulations will be used to optimize cooling structures on the heated wall to improve flow attachment and heat transfer efficiency. This work serves as a first investigation of the helium flow visualization apparatus for blanket cooling enhancement in fusion reactor design.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3785-3790 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2024 |
Funding
This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The authors want to thank the previous investigators, specifically Fayaz Rasheed and Dennis Youchison on their ideas of the flow apparatus design, which laid the foundation for their research. Last but not least, they extend their heartfelt thanks to Chris Crawford, Chase Joslin, and Keith Carver, who played a crucial role in the experimental apparatus mechanical design and additive manufacturing, and their expertise, insights, and support greatly enriched this article. This article has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, Oak Ridge, TN, USA, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this article, or allow others to do so, for the U.S. Government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
Keywords
- Blanket cooling
- flow visualization
- generalized k-omega (GEKO)
- helium simulation
- turbulence modeling
