Analysis of the mechanical behaviour of the ITER magnet system

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a tokamak fusion device with the objective of demonstrating controlled ignition and an extended burn for a duration sufficient to achieve stationary conditions. The design of ITER will be based on extensive new design work supported by new physical and technological results. As part of the ITER Engineering Design Activities, the mechanical behaviour of the toroidal field coil (TF coil) system during normal operating conditions and fault conditions has to be analyzed. The displacements and/or stresses in the components must be limited to prevent mechanical failure of parts of the overall structure. These Engineering Design Activities are supported by R and D programs in the European Union. This final report describes the work carried out by ECN to develop a finite element model (FE model) of the TF-coil system which is suitable for the analysis of the mechanical behaviour and presents results obtained with this model. For the analysis of the mechanical behaviour, a large three dimensional (3D) non-linear finite element model has been developed. With this FE model a large number of load cases has been analyzed which correspond with several time points during multiple pulses. (orig./WL)