Impact of Reverse Buoyancy on Heat and Mass Transfer in MHD Flow of PbLi Within a Poloidal Duct in a Typical DCLL Liquid Breeder Blanket

Abstract

The typical dual-coolant lead-lithium (PbLi) design of a liquid breeder blanket in a magnetic confinement fusion reactor involves the utilization of PbLi as the working fluid to effectively remove neutron heat. However, the nonuniform heating of neutrons with a significant radial gradient induces a buoyancy effect, resulting in the formation of vortexes ices within the downward flow duct. These vortexes have an adverse impact on the heat and mass transfer characteristics of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of PbLi. The simulations in this work employed a MHD buoyant mixed-convection solver to resolve the characteristics of PbLi flow and a one-way coupled Lagrangian method to analyze the qualitative characteristics of tritium transport in PbLi flow. The results indicate that buoyant reverse flow can create vortexes that contain hot spots in the PbLi fluid, which can significantly impede heat transport. Additionally, the vortex causes tritium recirculation in the flow field and retention, resulting in adverse effects on tritium transport.