EFDA-JET-CP(13)01/03

Movement of Liquid Beryllium During Melt Events in JET with ITER-Like Wall

The ITER-Like Wall recently installed in JET comprises solid beryllium limiters and a combination of bulk tungsten and tungsten-coated carbon fibre composite divertor tiles without active cooling. During a beryllium power handling qualification experiment performed in limiter configuration with 5MW NBI input power, accidental beryllium melt events, melt layer motion and splashing were observed locally on few beryllium limiters at the plasma contact areas. The Lorentz force is responsible for the observed melt layer movement. To move liquid beryllium against the gravity force, the current flowing from the plasma perpendicularly to the limiter surface must be higher than 6kA/m2. The thermo-emission current at the melting point of beryllium is much lower. The upward motion of the liquid beryllium against gravity can be due to a combination of the Lorentz force from the secondary electron emission and plasma pressure force.
Name Size  
EFDC130103 1.87 Mb