Molecular dynamics study of thermal stress and heat propagation in tungsten under thermal shock

Using molecular dynamics （MD） simulation, we study the thermal shock behavior of tungsten （W）, which has been used for the plasma facing material （PFM） of tokamaks. The thermo-elastic stress wave, corresponding to the collective displacement of atoms, is analyzed with the Lagrangian atomic stress method, of which the reliability is also analyzed. The stress wave velocity corresponds to the speed of sound in the material, which is not dependent on the thermal shock energy. The peak pressure of a normal stress wave increases with the increase of thermal shock energy. We analyze the temperature evolution of the thermal shock region according to the Fourier transformation. It can be seen that the “obvious” velocity of heat propagation is less than the velocity of the stress wave; further, that the thermo-elastic stress wave may contribute little to the transport of kinetic energy. The heat propagation can be described properly by the heat conduction equation. These results may be useful for understanding the process of the thermal shock of tungsten.

MD simulation of a copper rod under thermal shock

In this paper, thermoelastic problem of onedimensional copper rod under thermal shock is simulated using molecular dynamics method by adopting embedded atom method potential. The rod is on axis x, the left outermost surface of which is traction free and the right outermost surface is fixed. Free boundary condition is imposed on the outermost surfaces in direction y and z. The left and right ends of the rod are subjected to hot and cold baths, respectively. Temperature, displacement and stress distributions are obtained along the rod at different moments, which are shown to be limited in the mobile region, indicating that the heat propagation speed is limited rather than infinite. This is consistent with the prediction given by generalized thermoelastic theory. From simulation results we find that the speed of heat conduction is the same as the speed of thermal stress wave. In the present paper, the simulations are conducted using the large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator and completed visualization software.