CFD analysis of a regular sector of the ITER vacuum vessel. Part II: Thermal-hydraulic effects of the nuclear heat load

The 3D Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) steady state analysis of the regular sector #5 of the ITER vacuum vessel (VV) is presented in these two companion papers using the commercial software ANSYS-FLUENT®. The pure hydraulic analysis, concentrating on flow field and pressure drop, is presented in Part I. This Part II focuses on the thermal-hydraulic analysis of the effects of the nuclear heat load. Being the VV classified as safety important component, an accurate thermal-hydraulic analysis is mandatory to assess the capability of the water coolant to adequately remove the nuclear heat load on the VV. Based on the recent re-evaluation of the nuclear heat load, the steady state conjugate heat transfer problem is solved in both the solid and fluid domains. Hot spots turn out to be located on the surface of the inter-modular keys and blanket support housings, with the computed peak temperature in the sector reaching ∼290 °C. The computed temperature of the wetted surfaces is well below the coolant saturation temperature and the temperature increase of the water coolant at the outlet of the sector is of only a few °C. In the high nuclear heat load regions the computed heat transfer coefficient typically stays above the 500 W/m2 K target.