Critical heat flux investigations for fusion-relevant conditions with the use of a rastered electron beam apparatus

Abstract

With the use of a rastered electron beam apparatus, investigations of critical heat flux (CH) and associated noise, pressure and flow spectra have been completed for water-cooled test targets under conditions relevant to the design of high-heat-flux components for fusion energy applications. Targets tested were copper tubes with attached graphite armor tiles. Water flows with velocities ranging from 3 to 10 m/s were used, with axially uniform heat fluxes ranging from 10 to 60 MW/m/sup 2/ applied along only one side of the tube to simulate the heating pattern often encountered by plasma facing components in fusion applications. Targets included stainless steel twisted tapes mechanically locked into the tube bore to increase CH levels. Exit conditions typical of highly subcooled flow boiling were considered, e.g., exit qualities of about /minus/0.3, with exit pressures near 1 MPa, and exit temperatures in the 30 to 40 C range. Besides observation of CHF and the comparison to CHF correlations, the studies also examined possible means for predicting and preventing tube burnout. Diagnostics tried included acoustic amplitude and spectra in both the audible and above audible frequency ranges, exit pressure amplitude and spectra, and flow variations and spectra. During testing, signals from the diagnosticsmore » showed a large increase in amplitude before CHF occurred. 13 refs., 9 figs.« less