Thermal-hydraulic issues in the ITER Toroidal Field Model Coil (TFMC) test and analysis

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Toroidal Field Model Coil (TFMC) was tested in the Toska facility of Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe during 2001 (standalone) and 2002 (in the background magnetic field of the LCT coil). The TFMC is a racetrack coil wound in five double pancakes on stainless steel radial plates using Nb3Sn dual-channel cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) with a thin circular SS jacket. The coil was cooled by supercritical helium in forced convection at nominal 4.5 K and 0.5 MPa. Instrumentation, all outside the coil, included voltage taps, pressure and temperature sensors, as well as flow meters. Additionally, differential pressure drop measurement was available on the two pancakes DPL1.1 and DP1.2, equipped with heaters. Two major thermal-hydraulic issues in the TFMC tests will be addressed here: 1) the pressure drop along heated pancakes and the comparison with friction factor correlations; 2) the quench initiation and propagation. Other thermal-hydraulic issues like heat generation and exchange in joints, radial plates, coil case, or the effects of the resistive heaters on the helium dynamics, have been already addressed elsewhere.