Thermal analysis of a waveguide section of the ITER plasma-position reflectometry system on the high-field side

Highlights: • PPR diagnostic systems will be installed in ITER. • The PPR system studied herein will have in-vessel components. • A thermal analysis was conducted on a PPR waveguide section. • The results revealed a maximum temperature of about 187 °C in the waveguides. • The maximum temperature obtained is below the allowable temperature value (450 °C). -- Abstract: Some components of the ITER Plasma Position Reflectometry (PPR) system will be installed inside the vacuum vessel (VV), directly exposed to the plasma, and therefore subjected to thermal loads that may result in excessive operation temperatures. The main objective of this work was to estimate the temperature distribution on a waveguide section of the PPR in-vessel system to be installed on the high-field side. A steady state thermal analysis was conducted using the finite element method and the commercial software ANSYS Workbench. The analysis revealed a maximum temperature of 187 °C in the waveguides, well below the maximum allowable temperature for SS316L(N)-IG under neutron irradiation (450 °C). Based on these results, a static structural analysis shall be performed to determine the thermal stresses on the components.