Verification and Validation of COMSOL Magnetohydrodynamic Models for Liquid Metal Breeding Blankets Technologies

Ciro Alberghi, Luigi Candido, Raffaella Testoni, Marco Utili and Massimo Zucchetti
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Ciro Alberghi: ESSENTIAL Group, Politecnico di Torino—Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Luigi Candido: ESSENTIAL Group, Politecnico di Torino—Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Raffaella Testoni: ESSENTIAL Group, Politecnico di Torino—Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Marco Utili: ENEA FSN-PROIN, C.R. Brasimone—Località Brasimone, 40043 Camugnano, Italy
Massimo Zucchetti: ESSENTIAL Group, Politecnico di Torino—Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Liquid metal breeding blankets are extensively studied in nuclear fusion. In the main proposed systems, the Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) and the Dual Coolant Lithium Lead (DCLL), the liquid metal flows under an intense transverse magnetic field, for which a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect is produced. The result is the alteration of all the flow features and the increase in the pressure drops. Although the latter issue can be evaluated with system models, 3D MHD codes are of extreme importance both in the design phase and for safety analyses. To test the reliability of COMSOL Multiphysics for the development of MHD models, a method for verification and validation of magnetohydrodynamic codes is followed. The benchmark problems solved regard steady state, fully developed flows in rectangular ducts, non-isothermal flows, flow in a spatially varying transverse magnetic field and two different unsteady turbulent problems, quasi-two-dimensional MHD turbulent flow and 3D turbulent MHD flow entering a magnetic obstacle. The computed results show good agreement with the reference solutions for all the addressed problems, suggesting that COMSOL can be used as software to study liquid metal MHD problems under the flow regimes typical of fusion power reactors.

Keywords: liquid metal blanket; MHD benchmarking; COMSOL multiphysics; magneto-convection; turbulent MHD; large eddy simulations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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