Thermofluid behaviour of the lead bismuth eutectic target for the spallation neutron source at SIN

Abstract

The thermofluid behaviour of a PbBi eutectic (LBE) target for a spallation neutron source have been studied numerically, in order to investigate the effects of (1) target height, (2) beam power, (3) beam radius and (4) adiabatic side walls on the behaviour of natural convection. The results show that within the parameter values studied, the natural convection of target fluid is stabilized and the temperature distribution is not complicated. There is a steep temperature gradient only in a boundary layer region. In the core region the temperature distribution is relatively smooth. It can be expected that the cooling mechanism using natural convection in a vertical target with proton beam entering from below is feasible.