Thermal analysis on the EAST tungsten plasma facing components with shaping structure counteracting the misalignment issues

Tungsten monoblock type tiles with ITER dimensions along with supporting cassette components were installed at EAST's upper diverter during 2014 and EAST's lower diverter will also be upgraded in the future. These cassette structures pose critical issues on the high cumulative incident heat flux due to the leading edges and misalignments (0 ∼ 1.5 mm), which may result in the destruction or even melting of the tungsten tile. The present work summarizes the thermal analysis using ANSYS multiphysics software 15.0 performed on the actively cooled W tiles to evaluate the shaping effect on surface temperature. In the current heat flux conditions (Q_|| ∼ 100 MW m⁻²), the adopted chamfer shaping (1 × 1 mm) can only reduce the maximum temperature by about 14%, but it also has a melting risk at the maximum misalignment of 1.5 mm. The candidate shaping solutions elliptical (round) edge, dome and fish-scale are analyzed for comparison and are identified not as good as the dual chamfer structure. A relatively good dual chamfer (2 × 13 mm) shaping forming a symmetrical sloping roof structure can effectively counteract the 1.5 mm misalignment, reducing the maximum temperature by up to 50%. However, in the future heat flux conditions (Q_|| ∼ 287 MW m⁻²), it may only endure about 0.5 mm misalignment. Moreover, no proper shaping solution has been found that can avoid melting at the maximum misalignment of 1.5 mm. Thus, the engineering misalignment has to be limited to an acceptable level. (paper)