Thermohydraulic optimization of liquid metal self-cooled breeding blankets

This article presents the optimization of liquid metal self-cooled breeding blankets in the case of lithium used as coolant and breeder. The geometric specifications are that of ITER test blanket module. The optimization of both the first wall (FW) channel height and the lithium metal (LM) velocity is made according to 4 different optimization criteria: i) minimum LM velocity, ii) minimum LM pressure drop, iii) minimum value of maximum FW temperature, and iv) minimum FW stresses. (A.C.)