Analysis of MHD Pressure Drop in Liquid LiPb Flow in Chinese ITER DFLL-TBM with Insulating Coating

Abstract

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure drop in the Chinese Dual Functional Liquid Lithium-lead Test Blanket Module (DFLL-TBM) proposed for ITER is discussed in this paper. Electrical insulation between the coolant channel surfaces and the liquid metal is required to reduce the MHD pressure drop to a manageable level. Insulation can be provided by a thin insulating coating, such as Al2O3, which can also serve as a tritium barrier layer, at the channel surfaces in contact with LiPb. The coating's effectiveness for reducing the MHD pressure drop is analysed through three-dimensional numerical simulation. A MHD-based commercial computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software FLUENT is used to simulate the LiPb flow. The effect on the MHD pressure drop due to cracks or faults in the coating layer is also considered. The insulating performance requirement for the coating material in DFLL-TBM design is proposed according to the analysis.