Theoretical analysis for the mechanical behavior caused by an electromagnetic cycle in ITER Nb3Sn cable-in-conduit conductors

The central solenoid（CS）is one of the key components of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor（ITER）tokamak and which is often considered as the heart of this fusion reactor.This solenoid will be built by using Nb3Sn cablein-conduit conductors（CICC）,capable of generating a 13 T magnetic field.In order to assess the performance of the Nb3Sn CICC in nearly the ITER condition,many short samples have been evaluated at the SULTAN test facility（the background magnetic field is of 10.85 T with the uniform length of 400 mm at 1%homogeneity）in Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasma（CRPP）.It is found that the samples with pseudo-long twist pitch（including baseline specimens）show a significant degradation in the current-sharing temperature（Tcs）,while the qualification tests of all short twist pitch（STP）samples,which show no degradation versus electromagnetic cycling,even exhibits an increase of Tcs.This behavior was perfectly reproduced in the coil experiments at the central solenoid model coil（CSMC）facility last year.In this paper,the complex structure of the Nb3Sn CICC would be simplified into a wire rope consisting of six petals and a cooling spiral.An analytical formula for the Tcs behavior as a function of the axial strain of the cable is presented.Based on this,the effects of twist pitch,axial and transverse stiffness,thermal mismatch,cycling number,magnetic distribution,etc.,on the axial strain are discussed systematically.The calculated Tcs behavior with cycle number show consistency with the previous experimental results qualitatively and quantitatively.Lastly,we focus on the relationship between Tcs and axial strain of the cable,and we conclude that the Tcs behavior caused by electromagnetic cycles is determined by the cable axial strain.Once the cable is in a compression situation,this compression strain and its accumulation would lead to the Tcs degradation.The experimental observation of the Tcs enhancement in the CS STP samples should be considered as a contribution of the shorter length of the high field zone in SULTAN and CSMC devices,as well as the tight cable structure.

Superconducting Busline Design for HT-7U Tokamak

Superconducting (SC) tokamak HT-7U has seven pairs of buslines connecting toroidal/poloidal coils and the current leads. These SC buslines (SCBLs) share a common cryostat and are made of the cable in conduit conductors (CICCs) arranged as a decoupling configuration. In order to reduce the heat loads conducted from the seven current leads with a capacity of 15 kA during the magnets cooldown, the buslines with a much lower thermal conduction were employed in comparison with the current leads, and a special cooling loop was designed.