The MEMOS-U macroscopic melt dynamics code – benchmarking and applications

The MEMOS-U code, a significantly upgraded version of MEMOS-3D, has been developed to address macroscopic metallic melt motion in large-deformation long-displacement regimes, where melts spill onto progressively colder solid surfaces, that are ubiquitous in contemporary tokamaks and expected to be realized in ITER. The modelling of plasma effects, appearing via the free-surface boundary conditions, is discussed along with the sensitivity to external input. The crucial roles of convective and thermionic cooling are exemplified by simulations of ELM-induced tungsten leading edge melting. Key melt characteristics, revealed by previous MEMOS-U modelling of grounded sample exposures, are confirmed in new simulations of the recent floating sample exposures in ASDEX-Upgrade.