Time-to-burnout data for a prototypical ITER divertor tube during a simulated loss of flow accident

The Loss of Flow Accident (LOFA) is a serious safety concern for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) as it has been suggested that greater than 100 seconds are necessary to safely shutdown the plasma when ITER is operating at full power. In this experiment, the thermal response of a prototypical ITER divertor tube during a simulated LOFA was studied. The divertor tube was fabricated from oxygen-free high-conductivity copper to have a square geometry with a circular coolant channel. The coolant channel inner diameter was 0.77 cm, the heated length was 4.0 cm, and the heated width was 1.6 cm. The mockup did not feature any flow enhancement techniques, i.e., swirl tape, helical coils, or internal fins. One-sided surface heating of the mockup was accomplished through the use of the 30 kW Sandia Electron Beam Test System. Alter reaching steady state temperatures in the mockup, as determined by two Type-K thermocouples installed 0.5 mm beneath the heated surface, the coolant pump was manually tripped off and the coolant flow allowed to naturally coast down. Electron beam heating continued after the pump trip until the divertor tube's heated surface exhibited the high temperature transient normally indicative of rapidly approaching "burnout". Experimental data showed that time-to-burnout increases proportionally with increasing inlet velocity and decreases proportionally with increasing incident heat flux.