Electromagnetic effects on first wall and structural components

Abstract In a tokamak-type nuclear fusion reactor, the plasma disruption instabilities and the large magnetic fields generate electromagnetic-type phenomena in transient conditions which lead to strong induced eddy currents and large body loads that must be correctly accommodated in the engineering design of the first wall and structural components. During the last few years, many efforts at the TESLA Laboratory of the JRC-Ispra and at other Institutions have been actively made in terms of the comprehension of the real impact of the accidental events of plasma disruption on the mechanical design of the internal device components such as the multi-segmented first wall and their supports. Fully three-dimensional transient dynamic analyses have been performed due to the geometry complexity of the “conducting” and “plasma” regions both from the electrical and mechanical standpoints. Actually, there is a great interest to extend the computational strategies in magneto-structural analysis in order to investigate the impact of the huge electromagnetic loads on the integrity of the fusion structural system from the view point of magnetic damping.