Thermo-fluid Exploratory Design Analysis for ITER FW/Shield Module 7

This paper describes the thermo-fluid analysis for the preliminary designs of the first wall (FW) panel and shield block (SB) for ITER shield module 7. This effort forms a part of the conceptual design activity for US ITER components. The key approach used here is design by analysis, whereby various exploratory designs undergo rigorous thermo-fluid analysis to ascertain that the design allows for an adequate coolant distribution under the existing surface and volumetric heating environment, so that the maximum temperatures are under the design limit. The principal code being used for the thermo-fluid analysis is CFdesign, which is a finite element code with a direct interface to the CAD program CATIA. Several enhancements to the code allow an export of temperatures, pressures and convective heat transfer coefficients to other finite element programs for stress analysis. The temperature and flow distribution as well as the pressure drop information of near exact CATIA fabrication models has been obtained from the various analyses. The effect of special design features like radial flow drivers in the shield block coolant tubes and tee vanes in the coolant headers, in enhancing the overall cooling of the shield block is emphasized.