The Effect of Beam Intensity on Temperature Distribution in ADS Windowless Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Spallation Target

Jie Liu,Lei Gao,Wen-Qiang Lu

doi:10.1155/2014/984971

Abstract

The spallation target is the component coupling the accelerator and the reactor and is regarded as the “heart” of the accelerator driven system (ADS). Heavy liquid metal lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) is served as core coolant and spallation material to carry away heat deposition of spallation reaction and produce high flux neutron. So it is very important to study the heat transfer process in the target. In this paper, the steady-state flow pattern has been numerically obtained and taken as the input for the nuclear physics calculation, and then the distribution of the extreme large power density of the heat load is imported back to the computational fluid dynamics as the source term in the energy equation. Through the coupling, the transient and steady-state temperature distribution in the windowless spallation target is obtained and analyzed based on the flow process and heat transfer. Comparison of the temperature distribution with the different beam intensity shows that its shape is the same as broken wing of the butterfly. Nevertheless, the maximum temperature as well as the temperature gradient is different. The results play an important role and can be applied to the further design and optimization of the ADS windowless spallation target.

Highlights

At present, China’s nuclear power industry is expanding rapidly and more nuclear power plants are being built to solve air pollution and energy need
The beam intensity will be stronger and stronger with the development of the accelerator in the windowless design as there is no limit to window materials, so it is necessary to carry out the research of heat transfer in accelerator driven system (ADS) windowless spallation target as well as different results with various intensity beams to catch up with the development of the accelerator
As larger beam intensity may cause boiling of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) or other instable phenomena, smaller beam intensity is preferred in obtaining different temperature distribution with different beam intensity and 3 mA is chosen to compare with 4 mA

Summary

Introduction

China’s nuclear power industry is expanding rapidly and more nuclear power plants are being built to solve air pollution and energy need. The beam intensity will be stronger and stronger with the development of the accelerator in the windowless design as there is no limit to window materials, so it is necessary to carry out the research of heat transfer in ADS windowless spallation target as well as different results with various intensity beams to catch up with the development of the accelerator. The heat transfer in the heavy liquid metal LBE in the windowless spallation target has not been published as far as authors’ knowledge is concerned because of the high difficulty caused by the complicated two-phase flow and its interaction with the proton beam.

Numerical Model

Numerical Results

Conclusions