Molecular dynamics study of thermal stress and heat propagation in tungsten under thermal shock

Abstract

Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, we study the thermal shock behavior of tungsten (W), which has been used for the plasma facing material (PFM) of tokamaks. The thermo-elastic stress wave, corresponding to the collective displacement of atoms, is analyzed with the Lagrangian atomic stress method, of which the reliability is also analyzed. The stress wave velocity corresponds to the speed of sound in the material, which is not dependent on the thermal shock energy. The peak pressure of a normal stress wave increases with the increase of thermal shock energy. We analyze the temperature evolution of the thermal shock region according to the Fourier transformation. It can be seen that the “obvious" velocity of heat propagation is less than the velocity of the stress wave; further, that the thermo-elastic stress wave may contribute little to the transport of kinetic energy. The heat propagation can be described properly by the heat conduction equation. These results may be useful for understanding the process of the thermal shock of tungsten.