Modeling of heat deposition on the W/Cu movable limiter in HT-7

The thermal behavior of a directly water-cooled W/Cu movable poloidal limiter was investigated in HT-7, a medium-sized superconducting tokamak with limiter configuration, major radius R = 1.22 m, and minor radius a = 0.27 m. The W/Cu movable limiter (ML) was exposed to the plasma at various radial positions at r < a. The surface and bulk temperatures were monitored by an IR-camera and the thermocouples, respectively. The heat flux deposited on the limiter was evaluated by an ANSYS code using the measured surface temperatures as boundary conditions. It was found that the maximum heat flux incident on the ML was less than 1 MW/m2 in the Ohmic discharges, but reached up to 5–7 MW/m2 in the discharges with lower hybrid current drive (LHCD). A simple model was developed to understand heat transport to the W/Cu ML, taking into account the “funnel effect”.