Numerical Analysis of Coolant Flow and Heat Transfer in ITER Diagnostic First Wall

Abstract

Numerical simulations of the ITER Diagnostic First Wall (DFW) were performed using ANSYS workbench. During operation DFW will include solid main body as well as liquid coolant. Thus thermal and hydraulic analysis of the DFW was performed using conjugated heat transfer approach, in which heat transfer was resolved in both solid and liquid parts, and simultaneously fluid dynamics analysis was performed only in the liquid part. This approach includes interface between solid and liquid part of the system. Analysis was performed using ANSYS CFX software. CFX software allows solution of heat transfer equations in solid and liquid part, and solution of the flow equations in the liquid part. Coolant flow in the DFW was assumed turbulent and was resolved using Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with Shear Stress Transport turbulence model. Meshing was performed using CFX method available within ANSYS. The data cloud for thermal loading consisting of volumetric heating and surface heating was imported into CFX. Volumetric heating source was generated using Attila software. Surface heating was obtained using radiation heat transfer analysis.Results allowed to identify areas of excessive heating. Proposals for cooling channel relocation were made. Additional suggestions were made to improve hydraulic performance of the cooling system.