J. Gilligan et M. Bourham, THE USE OF AN ELECTROTHERMAL PLASMA GUN TO SIMULATE THE EXTREMELY HIGH HEAT-FLUX CONDITIONS OF A TOKAMAK DISRUPTION, Journal of fusion energy, 12(3), 1993, pp. 311-316
Disruption damage conditions for future large tokamaks like ITER are n
early impossible to simulate on current tokamaks. The electrothermal p
lasma source SIRENS has been designed, constructed, and operated to pr
oduce high density(> 10(25)/m(3)), low temperature (1-3 eV) plasma for
med by the ablation of the insulator with currents of up to 100 kA (10
0 mu s pulse length) and energies up to 15 kJ. The source heat fluence
(variable from 0.2 to 7 MJ/m(2)) is adequate for simulation of the th
ermal quench phase of plasma disruption in future fusion tokamaks. Dif
ferent materials have been exposed to the high heat flux in SIRENS, wh
ere comparative erosion behavior was obtained. Vapor shield phenomena
has been characterized for different materials, and the energy transmi
ssion factor through the shielding layer is obtained. The device is al
so equipped with a magnet capable of producing a parallel magnetic fie
ld (up to 16 T) over a 8 msec pulse length. The magnetic field is prod
uced to decrease the turbulent energy transport through the vapor shie
ld, which provides further reduction of surface erosion (magnetic vapo
r shield effect).