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Fusion Science and Technology
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A year in orbit: ISS deployment tests radiation detectors for future space missions
The predawn darkness on a cool Florida night was shattered by the ignition of nine Merlin engines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrust of the engines shook the ground miles away. From a distance, the rocket appeared to slowly rise above the horizon. For the cargo onboard, the launch was anything but gentle, as the ignition of liquid oxygen generated more than 1.5 million pounds of force. After the rocket had been out of sight for several minutes, the booster dramatically returned to Earth with several sonic booms in a captivating show of engineering designed to make space travel less expensive and more sustainable.
Kedar Bhope, Vinay Menon, Sunil Belsare, Samir Khirwadkar, Rajamannar Swamy, Mayur Mehta, Premjit Singh Kongkham, Tushar Patel, Nikunj Patel, Prakash Mokariya
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 8 | November 2024 | Pages 931-940
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2260536
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) is involved in the development of various technologies for fabrication and testing/qualification of tungsten (W)–based plasma-facing components for ITER-like applications. As a part of these activities, a small-scale W/Cu/CuCrZr monoblock test mock-up is prepared by using a vacuum brazing process. Further, thermal fatigue testing of this test mock-up is performed using the High Heat Flux Test Facility at IPR under an absorbed heat flux of ~9.5 MW/m2 for 1200 thermal cycles. Thermal-hydraulic analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are also performed to understand the heat flux testing scenario. Nondestructive testing of the test mock-up after thermal cyclic heat flux testing indicates that there are no defects in the test mock-up except for minor cracks on the surface of W tiles. The results of thermal cyclic testing, finite element analysis, CFD analysis, and postanalysis of the High Heat Flux test are presented in the paper.