ValidationofTOKESvapourshieldsimulationsagainstexperimentsinthe

2MK200facility.
S.Pestchanyia,R.A.Pittsb,V.Safronovc
a
KIT, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
ITER Organization, Route de Vinon-sur-Verdon, CS 90 046, 13067 St. Paul Lez Durance Cedex, France
c
SRC RF TRINITI, Troitsk, 142190 Moscow Region, Russia

TransientheatfluxesontothetungstendivertortargetsduringdisruptionsinITERmaycause
severemelting,leadingtointolerabledamage.However,forsufficientlyenergetictransients,
tungstenvaporizedfromthetargetintheinitialstageoftheheatpulsewillgenerateaprotective
plasma shield in front of the target, greatly reducing the incoming heat flux. This vapour
shieldingisacomplexprocess,combiningMHDconvectionanddiffusionoftheplasmashield
withconversionofthetransientheatfluxintoradiation..Itcanonlyreallybemodelledby
numericalsimulations,whichhavebeenperformedforITERdisruptionsusingtheTOKESfluid
plasmacode,demonstratingsignificantheatfluxmitigation[1].
Giventhepotentialbenefitsofvapourshieldingwithregardtothedamagewhichmaybecaused
byunmitigateddisruptionsonITER,theseTOKESsimulationsrequireexperimentalverification.
AlthoughplasmaconditionspertinenttohighenergyITERdisruptions(peakheatfluxesoftens
ofGWm2onmstimescales)cannotbecreatedeasilyinthelaboratory,someexperimentaldata
doesexistfromthe2MK200magneticcuspfacility,wheretungstenvapourshieldinghasbeen
observedunderrelevantheatfluxes(~100GW/m2),butonmuchfastertimescales(tensofs)
[1].Thisdeviceprovidesplasmaflowover20sontoatungstentargetwithmeasuredplasma
densityne=(1.52)1022m3andtemperaturesofTe=250eVandTi=800eV.
Thispaperwilldescribethefirsteversimulationsofthis2MK200transientvapourshield,
usingtheTOKEScodeconfiguredtoreproducethe2MK200magneticconfigurationandto
match the plasma parameters. The results are in reasonable agreement with the measured
maximumdensity,theplasmashieldwidthandtheTeprofiles.

[1]S.Pestchanyietal,acceptedforpublicationinFusionEngineeringandDesign
[2]Arkhipov,etal,PlasmaPhys.Rep.20(1994)782