Andreas Bürger

Evolution of tungsten degradation under combined high cycle edge-localized mode and steady-state heat loads

Combined thermal shock and steady-state heat loads (SSHLs) can have an impact on divertor materials and are therefore important for lifetime estimations and evaluations of operational thresholds of divertor components in future fusion devices such as ITER. This paper discusses the results of tests performed in the electron beam facility JUDITH 2 (Forschungszentrum Julich, Germany) on actively cooled tungsten specimens, loaded with edge-localized mode-like thermal shocks (pulse duration 0.48 ms, power densities 0.14–0.55 GW m−2, frequency 25 Hz and up to 1000 000 pulses) either with or without an additional SSHL of 10 MW m−2. The material showed no damage at 0.14 GW m−2 (independent of the SSHL) for up to 250 000 pulses. At a power density of 0.27 GW m−2 (without SSHL), surface roughening occurred at 100 000 pulses, developing into a crack network at 1000 000 pulses. In general, the additional SSHL resulted in an earlier (in terms of pulse number) and more severe material degradation.

Experimental and numerical assessment of normal heat flux first wall qualification mock-ups under ITER relevant conditions

The ITER first wall (FW) panel consists of beryllium in the form of tiles covering its surface, high strength copper alloy as the heat sink material and stainless steel as the structural material. Small-scale normal heat flux FW mock-ups, provided by Fusion for Energy, are tested in the electron beam facility JUDITH 2 at Forschungszentrum Julich to determine the performance of this design under thermal fatigue. The mock-ups are loaded cyclically under a surface heat flux of 2 MW m−2 with ITER relevant water coolant conditions. In this study, three-dimensional finite element method thermo-mechanical analyses are performed with ANSYS to simulate the thermal fatigue behaviour of the mock-ups. The temperature results indicate that the beryllium surface temperature is below the maximum allowed temperature (600 °C) of beryllium to be tested. The thermal mechanical results indicate that copper rupture and debonding between Be and copper are the drivers of the failure of a mock-up. In addition, the experimental data, e.g. the surface temperature measured using an infrared camera and the bulk temperature measured using thermocouples, are reported. A comparative study between experimental and simulation results is performed.