Research on the thermal hydraulic design of COOL blanket for CFETR

Abstract

The supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) cOoled Lithium-Lead (COOL) blanket is under development for Chinese Fusion Engineering and Test Reactor (CFETR). This paper presents the preliminary results of thermal hydraulics on the blanket and shield layer, without considering the MagnetoHydroDynamics (MHD). The mass flow rate in each channel is iteratively adjusted to achieve the outlet temperature of 600 °C and 700 °C, respectively, and the temperature of all materials satisfy with the requirements. The effects of buoyancy-driven at the lower velocity is preliminary observed in the inboard blanket, where occurs the clumps of vortices in the channels. Furthermore, the outlet temperature can further reach 800 °C if the TC is decreased to 2 W/(m·K). At the TC of 28 W/(m·K), the outlet temperature can reach 610.2 °C, respectively, approaching the design edge (600∼700 °C). Moreover, when the TC of co-based cemented tungsten carbide (WC) in the shield layer is 90 W/(m·K), the maximum temperature of WC is 504 °C, and there is a margin of 991 °C far away from the upper limit. It demonstrates that the shield layer can be cooled sufficiently only relying on the manifold.