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Studies of macroscopic melt motion induced by fast transient power loads and the ensuing damage to plasma-facing components are critical for ITER. Based on state-of-the-art experiments, heat transfer is argued to be strongly entangled with fluid dynamics. The physics model of the MEMOS-U code is introduced. Simulations are reported of recent tokamak experiments concerning deliberate transient melting of beryllium main chamber tiles (JET) and tungsten divertor components (ASDEX Upgrade, JET). MEMOS-U is demonstrated to capture the main physics responsible for melt dynamics and to reproduce the observed surface deformation. The intricate role of resolidification is elucidated.

Experimental evidence of the pre-plasma remobilization of ferromagnetic dust in FTU is presented. Thomson scattering data and IR camera observations document the occurrence of intrinsic dust remobilization prior to discharge start-up and allow for a rough calculation of the average mobilized dust density. Exposures of calibrated extrinsic non-magnetic and ferromagnetic dust to sole magnetic field discharges reveal that the magnetic moment force is the main mobilizing force, as confirmed by theoretical estimates. Pre-plasma remobilization probabilities are computed for varying dust sizes. The impact of prematurely remobilized dust on the breakdown and burn-through start-up phases is investigated together with the discharge termination induced once the plasma plateau is established.

A new model describing dust charging and heating in unmagnetized plasmas in the presence of large electron emission currents is presented. By accounting for the formation of a potential well due to trapped emitted electrons when the dust is positively charged, this model extends the so-called OML+ approach, thus far limited to thermionic emission, by including electron-induced emission processes, and in particular low-energy quasi-elastic electron reflection. Revised semi-analytical formulas for the current and heat fluxes associated with emitted electrons are successfully validated against particle-in-cell simulations and predict an overall reduction of dust heating by up to a factor of 2. When applied to tungsten dust heating in divertor-like plasmas, the new model predicts that the dust lifetime increases by up to 80%, as compared with standard orbital-motion-limited estimates.

The motion and temperature evolution of beryllium droplets produced by first wall surface melting after ITER major disruptions and vertical displacement events mitigated during the current quench a ...

International audience; The first comparison of dust radius and surface temperature estimates, obtained from spectroscopic measurements of thermal radiation, with simulations of dust heating and vaporization by the MIGRAINe dust dynamics code is reported. The measurements were performed during controlled tungsten dust injection experiments in the cold and dense plasmas of Pilot-PSI, reproducing ITER divertor conditions. The comparison has allowed us to single out the dominating role of the work function contribution to the dust heating budget. However, in the plasmas of interest, dust was found to enter the strong vaporization regime, in which its temperature is practically insensitive to plasma properties and the various uncertainties in modelling. This makes the dust temperature a poor figure of merit for model validation purposes. On the other hand, simple numerical scalings obtained from orbital-motion-limited estimates were found to be remarkably robust and sufficient to understand the main physics at play in such cold and dense plasmas. Validating heat balance models for tungsten dust in cold dense plasmas 2

Remobilization is one of the most prominent unresolved fusion dust-relevant issues, strongly related to the lifetime of dust in plasma-wetted regions, the survivability of dust on hot plasma-facing surfaces and the formation of dust accumulation sites. A systematic cross-machine study has been initiated to investigate the remobilization of tungsten micron-size dust from tungsten surfaces implementing a newly developed technique based on controlled pre-adhesion by gas dynamics methods. It has been utilized in a number of devices and has provided new insights on remobilization under steady-state and transient conditions. The experiments are interpreted with contact mechanics theory and heat conduction models.

Castellated substrates with adhered micron dust have been exposed in the outer ASDEX-Upgrade divertor to ELMy H-mode discharges. Beryllium proxy (chromium, copper) and refractory metal (tungsten, molybdenum) dust has been deposited on the plasma-facing and plasma-shadowed sides of the monoblocks as well as the bottom of the gaps. Interaction with time-averaged transient heat loads up to 5 MWm(-2) led to dust remobilization, clustering, melting and wetting-induced coagulation. The amount of dust released in the vessel has been quantified and remobilized dust trajectories inferred. Gaps can efficiently trap locally adhered dust, but dust detaching from adjacent monoblocks does not preferentially move inside the gaps implying that they do not constitute a dust accumulation site. Heat transfer simulations of melting events are also reported taking into account heat constriction due to the finite contact area and the presence of surface roughness.

The first study of the interaction of metallic dust (tungsten, aluminum) adhered on tungsten substrates with transient plasma heat loads is presented. Experiments were carried out in the Pilot-PSI linear device with transient heat fluxes up to 550 MW m−2 and in the DIII-D divertor tokamak. The central role of the dust-substrate contact area in heat conduction is highlighted and confirmed by heat transfer simulations. The experiments provide evidence of the occurrence of wetting-induced coagulation, a novel growth mechanism where cluster melting accompanied by droplet wetting leads to the formation of larger grains. The physical processes behind this mechanism are elucidated. The remobilization activity of the newly formed dust and the survivability of tungsten dust on hot surfaces are documented and discussed in the light of implications for ITER.

Mechanical dust-wall collisions are unavoidable in fusion devices and their accurate modeling is essential for the understanding of dust transport. The MIGRAINe dust dynamics code features analytical models addressing all facets of dust-surface impacts, some aspects of which have not been experimentally validated thus far. Dedicated dust injection experiments have been carried out in Pilot-PSI resulting to the visualization of in-plasma tungsten dust-surface impacts with an unprecedented resolution. They allowed for a calibration of key quantities of the MIGRAINe impact model.

International audience; Stereoscopic fast camera observations of pre-characterized carbon and tungsten dust injection in TEXTOR are reported, along with the modelling of tungsten particle trajectories with MIGRAINe. Particle tracking analysis of the video data showed significant differences in dust dynamics: while carbon flakes were prone to agglomeration and explosive destruction, spherical tungsten particles followed quasi-inertial trajectories. Although this inertial nature prevented any validation of the force models used in MIGRAINe, comparisons between the experimental and simulated lifetimes provide a direct evidence of dust temperature overestimation in dust dynamics codes. Furthermore, wide-view observations of the TEXTOR interior revealed the main production mechanism of intrinsic carbon dust, as well as the location of probable dust remobilization sites.

International audience; Dust trajectories have been recorded with an unprecedented, under fusion-relevant plasma conditions, spatial resolution of 9 mu m/pixel in Pilot-PSI. The optical setup allowed the use of fast cameras as a basic microscope. It is demonstrated that such a resolution is essential for the correct interpretation of experiments on several aspects of dust-surface interactions. Highly resolved tungsten dust dynamics measurements are presented from dedicated experiments on dust collisions with plasma facing components, motion in the vicinity of castellated samples and remobilization from planar samples.

Dust-surface collisions impose size selectivity on the ability of dust grains to migrate in scrape-off layer and divertor plasmas and to adhere to plasma-facing components. Here, we report first experimental evidence of dust impact phenomena in plasma environments concerning low-speed collisions of tungsten dust with tungsten surfaces: re-bouncing, adhesion, sliding and rolling. The results comply with the predictions of the model of elastic-perfectly plastic adhesive spheres employed in the dust dynamics code MIGRAINe for sub- to several meters per second impacts of micrometer-range metal dust.

The modelling of a controlled tungsten dust injection experiment in TEXTOR by the dust dynamics code MIGRAINe is reported. The code, in addition to the standard dust–plasma interaction processes, also encompasses major mechanical aspects of dust–surface collisions. The use of analytical expressions for the restitution coefficients as functions of the dust radius and impact velocity allows us to account for the sticking and rebound phenomena that define which parts of the dust size distribution can migrate efficiently. The experiment provided unambiguous evidence of long-distance dust migration; artificially introduced tungsten dust particles were collected 120° toroidally away from the injection point, but also a selectivity in the permissible size of transported grains was observed. The main experimental results are reproduced by modelling.

Experimental data on dust resident in the EXTRAP T2R reversed-field pinch are reported. Mobile dust grains are captured in situ by silicon collectors, whereas immobile grains are sampled post morte ...

Important physics effects in contemporary and future devices for magnetic fusion experiments depend on the interface with a 'composite' plasma, consisting of multiple ion species and heterogeneous dust with variable charge. A selection of processes related to dust and occurring in existing tokamaks is presented, focusing on new results on the physics of isolated micrometric ferromagnetic dust particles in the SOL of a tokamak with a metallic vessel of circular meridian cross section. Such particles in particular, in addition to usual forces, are subjected to magnetic dipole interaction with the ambient magnetic field and to strong evaporation effects at high surface temperatures. Moreover, preliminary results of inclusion of gaps in the vessel geometry suggest the possibility of dust trapping. Also reported are the effects of nanometre dust on plasma when the dust is to be considered as a plasma component.

Dust transport simulations are used to predict the effect of diagnostic ports on the in-vessel inventory of solid beryllium particles produced during mitigated disruptions in ITER. Beryllium dust is assumed to originate from the re-solidification of liquid droplets, which are initially ejected during transient first-wall melting events and subsequently interact with the disrupting plasma. The trajectories of droplets launched with various initial conditions, as well as the time evolution of their temperature and mass, are simulated until either complete vaporization or immobilization upon undergoing a sticking or splashing impact with the wall is realized. The results indicate that approximately 10% of the dust mass in the vessel can be expected to reside inside ports, in particular those located in the equatorial plane or in the lower outboard first wall. Keywords: Beryllium, Dust, Droplets, Disruptions

A comprehensive analytical description is presented for the particle and heat fluxes collected by dust in dense magnetized plasmas. Compared to the widely used orbital motion limited theory, the su ...