Estimation of toroidal field coil stresses from magnetic loads in FER and NET using analytic methods and improved computer subroutine for TFC stress estimation in TRESCODE

This report describes the comparison of TF coil stresses in NET and FER. The analyses focus on the straight part of the inner legs, since it is this part of the coil which most directly influences the radial build of the machine. NET's TF coils are wedged together and the centering force on each of the coils is reacted by toroidal compression of the inner legs. The forces that act out of the plane of each coil are reacted by friction between adjacent inner legs such that the set of legs behave much like a cylinder under torsion. In contrast, the FER device employs a bucking cylinder to react the centering load, which incurs a penalty in radial thickness, and the out of plane forces are reacted by the use of shear keys between adjacent inner legs. Analytic techniques or ''hand methods'' have been used to estimate and compare the strains and stresses at the inner leg mid-plane section resulting from both in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic forces. Such techniques forced a more thorough understanding of the structural behavior of the coils. The amount of effort in analyzing the NET coil is greater than for FER as the reaction of centering load in its wedged design is more complex, and because it was found that friction plays a very important part in determining the coil stresses. The FER coil is simpler in this regard, and a ''hand estimation'' of its coil stresses was straightfoward. In this report, the program written to perform these analyses is also described. It was desired to provide new capabilities to the original TF stress subroutine in TRESCODE and to review and improve it where possible. This has been accomplished, and subroutines are now available for use in JAERI's system code, TRESCODE. It is hoped that the inner leg radial thickness can be better optimized by using the program. (author)