CFD modelling of particle resuspension in a toroidal geometry resulting from airflows during a loss of vacuum accident (LOVA)

Thomas Gelain (1) , Francois Gensdarmes (2) , Samuel Peillon (2) , Laurent Ricciardi (3)

1 IRSN/PSN-RES/SCA/LEMAC - Laboratoire d'expérimentations et de modélisation en aérodispersion et confinement
2 IRSN/PSN-RES/SCA/LPMA - Laboratoire de physique et de métrologie des aérosols
3 IRSN/PSN-RES/SCA - Service du Confinement et de l'Aérodispersion des polluants

During a loss of vacuum accident (LOVA), dusts that will be present in the future tokamak ITER are likely to be resuspended. Such dusts may present a risk of explosion and airborne contamination. Hence, an assessment of the amount of particles which may be resuspended in case of LOVA is a major safety issue in ITER and more widely for all the fusion reactors. This article presents the implementation of the Rock’n’Roll model for the particle resuspension in ANSYS CFX, its validation with experimental data and its application for a LOVA accident in a toroidal geometry. The validation results show a good agreement between numerical and experimental results concerning the amount of resuspended particles as well as the kinetics of resuspension. The final application for modelling a LOVA in a toroidal geometry with different aerosol sizes shows a good behaviour of the model and a good agreement of the results with the expected physics.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Thomas Gelain, Francois Gensdarmes, Samuel Peillon, Laurent Ricciardi. CFD modelling of particle resuspension in a toroidal geometry resulting from airflows during a loss of vacuum accident (LOVA). Fusion Engineering and Design, 2020, 151, pp.111386. ⟨10.1016/j.fusengdes.2019.111386⟩. ⟨hal-02444483⟩