Investigation of the effects of transient heat loads on plasma-facing materials in Tokamaks

Abstract

Nuclear fusion devices are constantly under the threat of malfunctions coming from the damages of plasma-facing materials due to being affected by thermal heat loads. The frequent heat loads during some transient events in large-scale Tokamaks have always been a great concern for researchers. In ITER, the heat load of GW/m2 is estimated to impose plasma-facing components during edge localized modes, beside the Tokamak steady state load which is about 20 MW/m2. Moreover, there are also other transient thermal loads occurring due to off-normal operation of ITER such as vertical displacement events or disruptions, at the orders of hundreds of MW/m2 and tens of GW/m2, respectively. These loads are great enough to result in severe damages of plasma-facing materials. In this study, the facture of tungsten material under the heat loads of Tokamaks is simulated and the results are presented.

This work has been published in Advances in Energy Science and Technology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.22060/aest.2025.5780