For a more consistent determination of the disruption induced mechanical lo
ads in tokamaks a 2-D magnetohydrodynamic plasma model was coupled to an ex
isting 3-D eddy current code. Compared to previous publications of the auth
or, where the plasma was assumed to be at rest, the main difference is that
now the plasma movement in response to the induced eddy currents and magne
tic fields is included. Because the plasma current and motion are treated a
s parts of the total dynamical system, the significance of the results coul
d be improved considerably. The results of computations for three different
tokamak geometries are presented. From these results it is concluded that
the computational method describes the plasma behavior adequately and that
the electrical design of the plasma facing components dominates the plasma
current evolution and motion and thus the structural loads. Therefore presu
ming the same 'design plasma disruptions' for different structural designs,
especially blanket designs, leads to considerable errors. Furthermore it i
s shown that for the present DEMO design the largest stresses will occur at
the inboard blankets and that neglecting the poloidal halo currents the st
resses generally do not exceed critical limits. The major advantage of the
developed code lies in its applicability to structures with real 3-D charac
ter, which will have to be taken into account for future power reactors. (C
) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.