Computational investigation on the explosively actuated switch utilized in quenching protection system

Highlights: • Computational investigation on the underwater explosively actuated switching is carried out in this study. • Pressure, deformation and damage evolution of copper cylinder and distances between cutting rings are simulated. • Explosive weight is optimized to 23.3 g, and simulated outline of cutting ring meets well with the experimental result. A pyro-breaker composed of insulating and switching sections was designed in this work. The switch was actuated by the detonation of an explosive, which serves as the backup switch in quenching protection system (QPS) of comprehensive research facility for fusion technology (CRAFT). Computational investigation on the underwater explosively actuated switching was carried out in this study. The pressure distribution, deformation and damage evolution of the copper cylinder and distances between cutting rings were obtained through the simulation method. The parameter of the explosive weight was optimized to be 23.3 g by the simulation. The simulated outline of the cutting ring 3 met well with the experimental result, which further demonstrated the reliability of the simulation method.