Progress on the ultrasonic testing and laser thermography techniques for NDT of tokamak plasma-facing components

During manufacturing and operation, different kinds of defects, e.g., delamination or surface cracks, may be generated in the plasma-facing components (PFCs) of a Tokamak device. To ensure the safety of the PFCs, various kinds of nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques are needed for different defect and failure mode. This paper gives a review of the recently developed ultrasonic testing (UT) and laser thermography methods for inspection of the delamination and surface cracks in PFCs. For monoblock W/Cu PFCs of divertor, the bonding quality at both W-Cu and Cu- CuCrZr interfaces was qualified by using UT with a focus probe during manufacturing. A noncontact, coupling-free and flexible ultrasonic scanning testing system with use of an electromagnetic acoustic transducer and a robotic inspection manipulator was introduced then for the in-vessel inspection of delamination defect in first wall (FW). A laser infrared thermography testing method is highlighted for the on-line inspection of delamination defect in FW through the vacuum vessel window of the Tokamak reactor. Finally, a new laser spot thermography method using laser spot array source was described for the online inspection of the surface cracks in FW.

Numerical methods for the magneto-mechanical coupling analysis of invessel components in Tokamak devices

Magneto-mechanical coupling vibration arises in the in-vessel components of Tokamak devices especially during the plasma disruption. Strong electromagnetic forces cause the structures to vibrate while the motion in turn changes the distribution of the electromagnetic field. To ensure the Tokamak devices operating in a designed state, numerical analysis on the coupling vibration is of great importance. This paper introduces two numerical methods for the magneto-mechanical coupling problems. The coupling term of velocity and magnetic flux density is manipulated in both Eulerian and Lagrangian description, which brings much simplification in numerical implementation. Corresponding numerical codes have been developed and applied to the dynamic simulation of a test module in J-TEXT and the vacuum vessel of HL-2M during plasma disruptions. The results reveal the evident influence of the magnetic stiffness and magnetic damping effects on the vibration behavior of the in-vessel structures. Finally, to deal with the halo current injection problem, a numerical scheme is described and validated which can simulate the distribution of the halo current without complicated manipulations.