Water flow experiments and analyses on the cross-flow type mercury target model with the flow guide plates

A mercury target is used in the spallation neutron source driven by a high- intensity proton accelerator. In this study, the effectiveness of the cross -flow type mercury target structure was evaluated experimentally and analyt ically. Prior to the experiment, the mercury flow field and the temperature distribution in the target container were analyzed assuming a proton beam energy and power of 1.5 GeV and 5 MW, respectively, and the feasibility of the cross-flow type target was evaluated. Then the average water flow veloc ity field in the target mock-up model, which was fabricated from Plexiglass for a water experiment, was measurers at room temperature using the PIV te chnique. Water flow analyses were conducted and the analytical results were compared with the experimental results. The experimental results showed th at the cross-flow could be realized in most of the proton beam path area an d the analytical result of the water flow velocity field showed good corres pondence to the experimental results in the case when the Reynolds number w as more than 4.83 x 10(5) at the model inlet. With these results, the effec tiveness of the cross-flow type mercury target structure and the present an alysis code system was demonstrated. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.