Elastic-plastic cyclic deformation of the TEXTOR 94 modified liner under conditions of heating and plasma disruption

The present liner of the TEXTOR 94 tokamak installed inside the vacuum vessel represents the thin toroidal shell that is rested on the vessel inner surface. In order to integrate the dynamic ergodic divertor into the tokamak the liner design has been drastically changed. The 120° sector of the liner shell facing the ergodic coils system is removed and some additional holes in the liner are provisioned. This demands a new liner supporting system allowing for the liner thermal expansion and taking the electromagnetic load occurring in the liner during plasma disruption. The cyclic elasto-plastic deformations of the liner caused by the electromagnetic forces and temperature rise have been studied. It is shown that the local plastic deformations occur in the liner elements after the first heating and electromagnetic loading. The most thermal stresses take place in the reinforcing structures around the holes because of the thermal expansion difference of the inconel shell and the steel reinforcements. These stresses are coupled with the bending stress due to the electromagnetic loading. Subsequent repetitive loading does not lead to any significant increment of the plastic deformation. After the materials’ hardening the structure cyclically works mostly in the elastic range.