Stability analysis for buoyancy-opposed flows in poloidal ducts of the DCLL blanket

An approach developed in earlier work to study the hydrodynamic stability of the buoyancy assisted flow in DCLL blanket based on the solution of the OrrSommefeld equation for MHD flows is used here to address the stability of the buoyancy-opposed (downward) flows in the DCLL blanket conditions. The present analysis predicts that downward flows in DCLL blanket conditions will likely be hydrodynamically unstable and eventually turbulent due to the development of either inflectional instability or boundary layer instability.