Thermo-hydraulic analyses associated with a CEA design proposal for a DEMO TF conductor

The future DEMO Toroidal Field (TF) magnets are likely to feature cable-in-conduit conductors (CICC) cooled by forced flow of supercritical helium. Design activities were carried out at CEA to provide a winding pack compatible with DEMO plant requirements. The CEA proposal comprises, for each of the 16 D-shaped windings, 10 double-pancakes (2 × 392 m long) wound in 10 turns. The conductor is a square-shaped Nb3Sn double channel conductor with a central spiral, carrying a nominal current of 95.5 kA. We present a thermo-hydraulic analyses focused on the central, most critical pancake, where the maximum field is reached, aiming at evaluating the integrity of the proposed conductor design. Both normal and off-normal simulations were performed using detailed electromagnetic and neutron heating load maps as input, and evaluating operational quantities such as the temperature margin in burn conditions, and the hot spot temperature in quench conditions. We assessed the sensitivity of these quantities to some driving parameters, notably mass flow rate and the choice of friction factor correlation for the temperature margin, and quench initiation features for the hot spot temperature. Furthermore, the influence of the casing cooling on the temperature margin is analyzed. The study is carried out using two thermohydraulic models.