Thermal–mechanical analysis of the first wall for CFETR helium cooled solid breeder blanket

Abstract

Recently a conceptual structure design of helium-cooled solid breeder blanket was proposed as one of the candidates for the Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). In the blanket, a trapezoidal U-shaped FW was adopted to decrease gaps between blanket modules. Due to high heat flux from plasma and intense irradiation by high-energy neutrons, thermal–mechanical analysis of the FW was carried out to ensure reasonable FW temperature and stress under normal load condition. A fluid–solid coupled code ANSYS was used to verify that the mechanical behavior conforms to the criteria of design codes and standards. The calculations showed that the FW material temperature limit was satisfied when the inner surface of the coolant channel was artificially roughened to 0.5mm in height. Furthermore, the influence of different FW geometrical configurations on the temperature field and stress distribution was investigated. The results led to improvements to the FW design that can reduce the maximum temperature and stress of FW structural material.