Electromagnetic Analysis of Forces and Torques on Selected Components of the ITER Blanket System due to Plasma Disruption

The ITER device is based on the tokamak concept of magnetic confinement in which the plasma is contained by the use of strong magnetic fields. The nearest structure to the plasma is the blanket system which provides shielding to the vacuum vessel and the superconducting magnets. There are potential abnormal operating environments where the plasma currents inside the tokamak are disrupted and induce eddy currents in the blanket (first wall and shield module). These currents interact with the large magnetic fields to produce forces in the blanket which could potentially cause mechanical failure in the first wall, shield module, or vacuum vessel. For this reason the design and qualification of the ITER blanket system requires appropriate high-fidelity electromagnetic simulations that capture the physics of these disruption scenarios.

A number of different geometries will be discussed revealing the effect of different first wall designs and shield modules on the forces and torques experienced by these assemblies during plasma disruption.

The key features of the modeling procedure will be presented including the plasma current modeling and geometric modeling of the first wall, shield modules, and vacuum vessel. The eddy current calculation is performed using the Opera-3d software.