Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342

www.elsevier.com/locate/fusengdes

Thermal-hydraulic characteristics of IFMIF liquid lithium

target
Mizuho Ida a,
, Hideo Nakamura b, Hiroshi Nakamura c, Hiroo Nakamura a,
Koichiro Ezato a, Hiroshi Takeuchi a
a
Department of Fusion Engineering Research, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 2-4 Shirakata, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan
b
Department of Reactor Safety Research, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 2-4 Shirakata, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan
c
Japan Science and Technology Co., 5-1-4 Takamoridai, Kasugai, Aichi 487-0032, Japan

Abstract

International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) is an accelerator-based deuteron /lithium neutron
source for testing fusion materials. High-speed flow up to 20 m/s is required for the liquid lithium target to remove high
heat load 1 GW/m2 of deuteron beams. Thermal-hydraulic stability of the target system is required during long-term
operation of IFMIF. Thermal-hydraulic analyses and simulation experiments with water jets were carried out to verify
the stability of the IFMIF target flow. Appropriateness of concept of the high-speed flow on concave back-wall was
verified by the analyses. There were enough temperature margins to avoid boiling and a thickness margin of 3 mm in
the target. Acceptable range of the back-wall radius was 100 /1000 mm. By the experiments with different nozzle wall
roughness, main cause of surface waves was found to be boundary layer at the nozzle exit depending on the wall
roughness. Cause of increased surface waves in case of the coarse-wall nozzle was a transition from laminar to turbulent
boundary layer. Based on the experimental results, a wall roughness less than 6.3 mm was recommended for IFMIF
target. These results give stable conditions of the IFMIF target, verify the appropriateness of its design and give
guidelines on its fabrication.
# 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fusion material; Fusion neutron; IFMIF; Lithium flow target; Thermal-hydraulic analysis; Flow boiling; Free surface;
Interfacial stability; Surface wave; Flow simulation; Boundary layer

1. Introduction stripping reaction. High-flux, high-energy neutron

The International Fusion Materials Irradiation
Facility (IFMIF) is an accelerator-based neutron
source employing deuteron /lithium (D /Li)

Corresponding author. Tel.: /81-29-282-6095; fax: /81-
29-282-5551
E-mail address: ida@ifmif.tokai.jaeri.go.jp (M. Ida).
0920-3796/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 0 - 3 7 9 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 2 2 - 9
field (2 MW/m2) is generated to provide the
irradiation damage up to 200 dpa with an appro-
priate He-generation/dpa ratio in a sufficient
irradiation volume (500 cm3) for testing of candi-
date materials for first walls of fusion reactors. A
development of such a type of neutron source was
firstly implemented in 1978/1984 by the Fusion
Materials Irradiation Testing Facility (FMIT)
project [1] in the United States. Flow experiments
334 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
were carried out with a target width of 100 mm
and a thickness of 19 mm to achieve stable jet at
high speed up to 17 m/s. Deviation of jet thickness
and instability of target surface were observed.
After the FMIT project, efforts for the develop-
ment of such a neutron source were continued in
1988 /1992 by Energy Selective Neutron Irradia-
tion Test Facility (ESNIT) plan [2] in Japan.
Utilizing the essential technology basis defined
by the FMIT and the ESNIT, the IFMIF project
has been initiated as an international collaboration
among the European Union (EU), Japan, the
Russian Federation (RF) and US under the
International Energy Agency (IEA) since 1995
[3,4]. The IFMIF provides larger irradiation
volume than those of the former facilities. Three-
year key element technology phase (KEP) was
initiated in 2000 to reduce the risk factors of key
technology needed to achieve continuous wave
(CW) beam with the current of 250 mA and energy
of 40 MeV, to achieve the corresponding power
handling capabilities in the liquid Li target system,
and to satisfy the availability and reliability of the
target during long-term operation of the IFMIF
[5,6].
To provide the high-flux neutron field in the
above-mentioned volume with gradient less than
10% cm1, nearly uniform broad beams are
irradiated at a footprint of 200 /50 mm2 on the
Li target. This footprint size is far larger than that
of FMIT, whose beam distribution is nearly
Gaussian with 30 /10 mm2 as full width at half
maximum (FWHM) [7]. Furthermore, the heat
load by D beams is up to 10 MW in IFMIF,
while it was 3.5 MW in FMIT with beam current
of 100 mA and energy of 35 MeV [7]. To remove
such a high heat load of 1 GW/m2, 10 MW at a
footprint of 200 /50 mm, high-speed flows of up
to 20 m/s are required for the IFMIF liquid Li
target with a free surface without boiling of the Li
flow during the beam irradiation. Furthermore,
thermal and hydraulic stability is required on the
target flow during long-term operation of the
target system with the availability of 95%. To
achieve stable intense neutron field in IFMIF, the
jet thickness and surface fluctuation are required
to be more controlled than those measured and
observed in the FMIT experiments. Clarification is
required about the acceptable range of the target
specification and requirement on the target fabri-
cation. Therefore, more investigations, especially
on thermal and hydraulic stability, and design
work have been required for IFMIF target system.
Issues associated with the stability of the target
flow have been investigated for years and are
included in one of the essential tasks during
IFMIF-KEP.
This paper focuses on the thermal and hydraulic
analyses and flow experiments with water which
have been carried out to verify and clarify the
thermal-hydraulic stability of the target flow and
thus the appropriateness of target design.
2. IFMIF target geometry to satisfy the
requirements on Li flow
In the IFMIF target, a reference design adopts a
double reducer nozzle to generate high-speed flows
without separation in the flow nozzle and a
concave wall to avoid boiling of the Li flow with
a static pressure in the high-speed Li target flow in
centrifugal force field. Table 1 and Fig. 1 show the
main specifications and a schematic representation
of IFMIF target, respectively. The target flow
width of 260 mm is selected to cover the beam
width of 200 mm. The flow thickness of 25 mm
was expected to cover the range of deuteron beams
penetration at an energy of 40 MeV. The D
beams are injected in a region at 150/200 mm
Table 1
Specification of IFMIF target
Beam deposition area 200 (Width)/50 mm (Height)
Width of Li jet 260 mm
Thickness of Li jet 19, 25 mm (for 32, 40 MeV D  beams)
(D )
Average velocity of Li 15 m/s (range 10 /20 m/s)
jet (U0)
Flow rate of Li 0.130 m3/s (U0 /20 m/s, D/25 mm)
Average temperature 250 8C at upstream of beam deposi-
of Li tion, 285 8C at downstream of beam
deposition, (40 MeV D  beams, U0 /
20 m/s)
Pressure at jet surface 1/10 3 Pa
 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342 335

Fig. 1. Schematic of IFMIF Li target.

downstream from the nozzle exit to reduce damage
of the nozzle by intense neutron field.
To achieve the high-speed uniform flows in the
IFMIF target, Shimas nozzle [8] is employed for
the IFMIF target, because its symmetrical nozzle
curve (xn , 9/yn ) is clearly defined by following
functions:
Fig. 2. Curves of double reducer nozzle to achieve high
contraction ratio without separation.
with viscosity, one-step contraction with a con-
traction ratio of 10 may cause separation in a
nozzle at high speed of 20 m/s. Maximum con-
traction ratio of 4 was employed after hydraulic
analysis and survey of existing nozzles. A double

p
2an ln[2cos u=2]  2bn ln[2sin u=2]  [am 2bn (an  bn )  (an  bn )] cos u
xn  ; (1)
2p
p
bn (an  bn )u  [am 2bn (an  bn )  (an  bn )]sin u
yn   ; (2)
2 2p

where an and bn are widths of the inlet (u 0/p,
xn 0//) and outlet (u0/0, xn 0//), respec-
tively. Shima obtained these equations based on
the potential flow theory that is applicable to low-
viscosity fluid. In the IFMIF, a contraction ratio
through the nozzle is selected to be 10 because of a
requirement from the Li loop design to control
flow velocity in the piping. In case of actual fluid
reducer nozzle with flow width ratio of 10:2.5:1
was introduced. The curves of upstream part (x1,
9/y1) and downstream part (x2, 9/y2) are given
with Eqs. (1) and (2) and with the following inlet
and outlet sizes:
a1 250 mm;
b1 62:5 mm for the upstream part (x1 ;9y1 );
336 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
a2  62:5 mm;
b2 25 mm for the downstream part (x2 ;9y2 ):
Fig. 2 shows the whole shape of the double-
reducer nozzle obtained by applying this connect-
ing method. The lengths of the nozzle parts are 260
mm (/140 mm B/X1 B/120 mm) for the upstream
part and 130 mm (/90 mm B/X2 B/40 mm) for the
downstream part. These lengths were employed
after consideration and hydraulic analysis to avoid
the influence of upstream disturbance with mini-
mum length.
3. Thermal-hydraulic analysis of Li target
Thermal-hydraulic analyses have been carried
out to verify the appropriateness of the reference
target design mentioned above and to clarify the
acceptable range of target specification such as
flow velocity and back-wall radius.
3.1. Calculation model
The thermal behavior of the IFMIF Li flow can
be predicted without real beam heating, because
an effect of beam momentum as pressure on the
free surface can be neglected. For example, under
a condition of irradiation by beams with an energy
of 40 MeV and a current of 250 mA onto Li flows
with a velocity of 20 m/s, pressure by the beams
momentum is about 32 Pa, which gives displace-
ment of 0.02 mm in thickness on Li flow surface
[9]. Numerical calculations thus have been carried
out to simulate the thermal-hydraulic behaviors of
IFMIF Li target, to verify the appropriateness of
the target concept and design, and to estimate
temperature and spatial margins.
The two-dimensional analyses were performed
employing a cylindrical coordinate shown in Fig.
3, because the beam width of 200 mm is large
enough and another numerical simulation [10]
predicted that the three-dimensional convection
at the beam edge induced by density variations was
negligible even in the significant centrifugal force
field. A multi-dimensional, transient, thermal-
hydraulic code FLOW-3D [11] was used for both
analyses. Fig. 3 indicates the distribution of the
heat generation rate along the jet thickness in the
heated region (/25 mm B/L B/25 mm, L is the
vertical position relative to the beam center), thus
the beam energy deposition curve, obtained using
the modified EDEP-1 code [12]. In every case,
standard deviation (sE) of beam energy is 0.5 MeV
assuming a use of energy dispersion cavity (EDC)
in accelerator system. The calculation conditions
are summarized in Table 2. The target average
velocity (U0) and back-wall radius (RW) were
changed as primary parameters: U0 /10 and 20
m/s, RW /100, 250 and 1000 mm.
3.2. Results
The liquid Li is heated up while it flows through
the heated region. The maximum temperature in
every case was indicated at the point with a depth
of 19 mm (i.e. peak location of the energy
deposition) and L //25 mm in flow direction
(i.e. lower edge of D  beams). Fig. 4 shows the
calculated Li temperatures and the boiling points
depending on the calculated pressure. The tem-
perature and pressure are those at the location of
L //25 mm. The Li temperature in three cases of
RW /100, 250 and 1000 mm were almost same.
The curves of Li temperature have shapes similar
to that of energy deposition in Fig. 3. It means that
an effect of thermal conductivity on temperature
distribution is not significant in target flows with
high velocities. There was no change in Li
temperature in the depth region of 22/25 mm.
The Li temperature is always lower than the
boiling point. For the reference case U0 /20 m/s,
RW /250 mm, there is temperature margin be-
tween Li temperature 280 8C and boiling point
344 8C at the surface. The margin is far larger
(between 408 and 1121 8C) inside the flow than at
the surface. While the boiling points are 344 8C at
the surfaces because of vacuum condition of 0.001
Pa, they increase with depth because of the
centrifugal force field. The pressure in Li flow is
almost in inverse proportion to back-wall radius
RW, because the pressure is given as integration of
rU2/R , where r , U and R are the Li density,
velocity and curvature radius of streamline in
every location, respectively. Therefore, as shown
 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342 337

Fig. 3. Schematic of calculation model.

temperature is expected to be about 730 8C in

Table 2
Calculation condition the case of U0 /10 m/s, which is sufficiently lower
than the boiling point even in the case of RW /
Deuteron energy 40 MeV 1000 mm. Therefore, a removal of EDC is
Beam current 250 mA
Thickness of Li jet 25 mm
acceptable in IFMIF design.
Average velocity of Li 10 and 20 m/s As the result, appropriateness of the concept of
jet (U0) high-speed flow on concave back-wall was verified
Radius of back-wall 100, 250 and 1000 mm through this analysis. There is enough margin of
(RW)
temperature to avoid boiling in the IFMIF target.
Inlet temperature 250 8C
Boundary condition Adiabatic at back-wall, Free surface, Acceptable range of the back-wall radius is 100 /
Free slip at Back-wall 1000 mm. As a reference design, the back-wall
Fluid property 250 8C Li (only density depends on radius of 250 mm is selected in the IFMIF [3,4].
temperature) This calculation did not deal with three uncer-
tainties in the jet thickness: thickness of boundary
layer, fluctuation of surface location and deviation
in Fig. 4, the curve of boiling point in case of U0 / of beam-penetration depth. Acceptable velocity
20 m/s, RW /1000 mm is nearly equal to that in decrease in boundary layer was conservatively
case of U0 /10 m/s, RW /250 mm. However, U0 determined to be U (y )/U0 /0.8, where y is the
and RW do not make significant difference in distance from a back-wall. In case of a laminar
boiling point in high-pressure region because of boundary layer, based on Blasius solution, this
low saturated vapor pressure of Li. thickness is 0.4 mm (i.e. U (0.4 mm)/U0 /0.8) at
This analysis was performed assuming a use of the location at the lower edge of the heated region,
EDC. In case without EDC, the energy deposition where U0 /10 m/s. In the case of turbulent
curves have narrower and higher peaks than those boundary layer, based on 1/7 power law, the
in Fig. 3. The temperature increase at the depth of thickness is 1 mm. With both results, a value of
19 mm is expected to be about 1.5 times as high as 1 mm is employed as such thickness of boundary
that in Fig. 4. Without an EDC, the peak layer.
338 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
Fig. 4. Depth profile of Li temperature and boiling point. (ED /40 MeV, L //25 mm).
The amplitude of surface waves was observed to
be less than 1 mm in former water experiments
[13 /15]. Wave amplitudes on Li surface are
expected to be less than 1 mm because the surface
tension of Li is higher than that of water.
Uncertainty of beam penetration depth is expected
to be less than 1 mm even assuming 1 MeV in
deviation of D  energy, as shown in Fig. 3. As a
result, the calculated spatial margin of 3 mm is
large enough to avoid a direct penetration of D 
beams into the back-wall or a significant heating
of Li at low velocity in a boundary layer.
4. Simulation experiment by water jet flow
Water experiments have been performed to
investigate the hydraulic behavior of Li flow for
IFMIF target. Because the kinematic viscosity (n)
of water 1.01 /106 m2/s at 20 8C is nearly equal
to that of Li 0.98 /106 m2/s at 250 8C, water
flow can simulate Li flow with matching both
Reynolds numbers (Re ) on the same size geome-
tries. Nearly full-size, vertical flow experiments
were performed since 1995 to verify the appropri-
ateness of the double reducer nozzle [13]. High-
speed water flows up to 20 m/s were successfully
generated through the nozzle with neither separa-
tion in the nozzle nor significant deformation of
free surface flow along concave back-wall. In these
experiments, 2D and 3D waves were observed on
the surface [13 /15]. Therefore, the main concern
about the flow stability has moved to surface
stability.
4.1. Effectiveness of water experiment to simulate
surface stability of high-speed Li flows
The main cause of such surface waves is the
velocity distribution in boundary layer at the
nozzle exit. The velocity distribution is formed
along the nozzle wall and its recovery into uniform
velocity in shear layer under free surface was
observed in the former water experiments [13 /
15]. The velocity distribution in Li flow is nearly
equal to that in water flow, because the formation
of boundary layer and the velocity recovery
depend on Reynolds number. To investigate the
surface behavior, water experiments have been
carried out using small, horizontal, test equipment.
Effects of gravity and centrifugal forces on surface
wave can be ignored according to former experi-
ments and the linear stability theory [13 /15] in
case of high-speed flow. While Gortler instability
will occur in a boundary layer on the side of
concave wall, it is expected not to affect stability
on the surface side around the location of beams
footprint only about 150 mm downstream from
the nozzle exit.
The most remarkable difference between Li and
water flows is their surface tensions s/0.386 N/m
for Li at 250 8C and 0.0728 N/m for water at
 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
20 8C. However, the effects of surface tension on
surface instability become insignificant or to be
neglected in cases of high-speed flows, according
to the linear stability theory. In the theory, the
surface behavior is characterized by the Weber
number We /U (rD /s)1/2, where U , r and D are
the flow velocity, density and thickness of shear
layer, respectively. The ratio l /D is predicted to
be constant in case that We /2.5, where l  is the
wavelength of most unstable wave. For the
velocity range of IFMIF target flows (i.e. U /
10 /20 m/s), using D /0.08 mm (at U /10 m/s)
and 0.05 mm (U /15 m/s) observed in water
experiment mentioned below, ranges of Weber
number is We /10.5 /16.6 for 20 8C water and
3.2 /5.1 for 250 8C Li. Therefore, the behavior of
surface wave will not significantly depend on
surface tension, but on Reynolds number. Water
experiments are effective to simulate high-speed Li
flows not only in a nozzle but also on a surface.
4.2. Experimental setup and condition
As shown in the thermal-hydraulic analysis,
surface-wave amplitude less than 1 mm is accep-
table for the target of the reference design.
Velocity distribution of boundary layer was ex-
pected to depend on an inner wall roughness of
upstream nozzle and flow length along the wall.
The wall roughness may change because of corro-
sion and erosion during operation in long time.
This change may bring growth of wave amplitude.
Therefore, water experiments were carried out
with varying the wall roughness to clarify effects
of the wall roughness on the behavior of surface
waves and to determine the nozzle design for
IFMIF Li target.
A straight test section placed in horizontal
direction [16,17] was employed for convenience
of free surface observation, because the effect of
gravity and centrifugal force on the wave ampli-
tude was not significant. Observations of the free
surface were performed using high-speed digital
camera through the viewing ports at locations near
nozzle exit and 150/200 mm downstream from the
exit. The latter location corresponds to footprint
of D  beam in IFMIF target. The nozzle and test
section were made of acrylic resin for measurement
339
Table 3
Experimental condition
Average velocity of jet 2.5 /20 m/s
Jet thickness, width 10/100 mm
Roughness of nozzle wall 6.3, 100 mm (two nozzles)
Working pressure at free 0.015, 0.1 Mpa
surface
Fluid Pure water (20 /30 8C, contain-
ing tracer)
of velocity distribution at the nozzle exit by an
argon laser source (Spectra Physics, Model 168-
06), a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV, Aero-
metrics RSA-2000) and tracer. Fine measurements
with spatial resolution of 0.01 mm were performed
near the wall on the free surface side to obtain data
in boundary layer.
The experimental conditions are summarized in
Table 3. Water jets with velocity up to 20 m/s,
thickness of 10 mm and width of 100 mm were
generated through the double reducer (100 mm 0/
25 mm 0/10 mm) nozzle. The water experiments
were performed with two types of test equipment
to investigate the effect of the nozzle wall rough-
ness on the free surface stability. One has a nozzle
with a wall roughness of 6.3 mm and the other with
100 mm. Working pressure of cover gas faced to
the free surface was 0.1 (1 atm) and 0.015 MPa to
verify that the effect of the pressure on growth of
surface instability. Such effect had not been
verified in the former water experiments per-
formed under the pressure of 0.1 MPa.
4.3. Effects of wall roughness of nozzle and
pressure of cover gas
The effect of working pressure on the surface
wave growth was found to be insignificant by
comparing experimental results, in which surface
waves were observed under both pressure condi-
tions. These results also suggest that surface
instability may occur even on the IFMIF target
under vacuum condition of 0.001 Pa.
Utilizing the result, the following experiments
were performed under pressure condition of 0.1
MPa. The experiments were performed using
nozzles with smooth (roughness: 6.3 mm) and
340 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
Fig. 5. Roughness growth of free surfaces depending velocity and nozzle-wall roughness. (White arrows indicate flow directions).
coarse (100 mm) wall nozzles. Fig. 5 shows the
observed surfaces at the viewing port 150/200 mm
downstream from the nozzle exit. Three pictures in
the upper row are surfaces observed in case of the
nozzle with coarse walls. The surface becomes
rougher with increasing flow velocity. The other
three in the lower row are those in case of the
smooth one. The surface roughness is not so
significant as that for coarse one. The difference
between the results of the two nozzles is remark-
able for high speed at 10 m/s or more. The
wavelength was observed to be about 1 mm. A
surface of Li flow is expected to be more stable
because of the surface tension of Li higher than
that of water.
The cause and growth of surface wave was
considered in relation with the boundary layer at
nozzle exit, because effects of other causes were
found to be negligible. Thickness of boundary
layer is indicated in displacement thickness (d1)
and momentum thickness (d2), which are defined
as follows:
  d2 was employed as an index. A laminar flow gives
1  U(y)
d1 
g
0
U0
dy;
  
U(y) 1  U(y)
d2 
g
0
U0 U0
dy ; (4)
where U (y ) is the flow velocity at a location y
from a wall. With measured velocity U and U0, d1
and d2 were obtained based on Eq. (3) and Eq. (4).
These thicknesses are shown in Fig. 6. In case of
the smooth-wall nozzle, both thicknesses d1 and d2
decrease with average velocity (U0). Solid lines in
Fig. 6 correspond to thickness complying with
relationship to U0 based on Blasius solution. The
boundary layer is laminar. In case of the coarse-
wall nozzle, both thicknesses are nearly equal to
those in case of the smooth one in low-velocity
range up to about 5 m/s, while they increased in
the higher velocity range. Any type of boundary
layer decreases with U0. Therefore, some charac-
teristic change from laminar boundary layer is
expected to occur in the high-velocity range
beyond about 5 m/s in case of the coarse.
To identify the characteristics of boundary layer
at high-velocity region, the shape factor H12 /d1/
(3) H12 /2.6 with the assumption of Blasius solution.
On the other hand, turbulent flow gives H12 /1.3
with the assumption of 1/7 power law. At U0 /5
m/s, H12 is 2.3 for the smooth one and 2.5 for the
 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
Fig. 6. Characteristics of displacement thickness (a) and momentum thickness (b) depending average velocity and nozzle-wall
roughness.
coarse one. Both boundary layers are laminar. At
U0 /10 m/s, H12 is 2.3 (still laminar) for the
smooth one but 1.6 (nearly turbulent) for the
coarse one. The characteristic change from lami-
nar to turbulent occurs at velocity range beyond
about 5 m/s in case of the coarse-wall nozzle.
The result shows that surface wave growth
mainly depends on the surface roughness of the
nozzle wall. The coarse-wall nozzle brings surface
instability at low velocity with changing boundary
layer from laminar to turbulent. Nearly the same
change is expected to occur for Li flow because of
similarities in kinematic viscosity and Reynolds
number between Li and water. The nominal value
of wall roughness 6.3 mm is acceptable, while it is
easily achieved by machining on the stainless steel
nozzle. Further study is required to investigate
growth of the wall roughness considering erosion
and corrosion during long-term operation.
5. Conclusions
Thermal-hydraulic analyses and simulation ex-
periments with water jet were carried out to verify
the thermal-hydraulic stability of IFMIF target
flow and the appropriateness of target design, and
to estimate design margins. The conclusions from
the analyses and the experiments are the following:
1) Thermal-hydraulic analyses verified the ap-
propriateness of the concept of high-speed
341
flows up to 20 m/s on concave back-walls.
There is enough temperature margin to avoid
boiling in the IFMIF target and a spatial
margin of 3 mm for jet thickness. Acceptable
range of the back-wall radius is 100 /1000 mm,
while reference is selected as 250 mm.
2) Water experiments with different nozzle
roughness of 6.3 and 100 mm showed that
the main cause of surface wave was boundary
layer at a nozzle exit depending on wall
roughness of the nozzle. Based on these
results, the roughness of IFMIF target nozzle
is recommended to be less than 6.3 mm.
3) Cause of the increased surface waves in case of
the coarse nozzle of 100 mm is transition from
laminar to turbulent boundary layer above a
flow velocity about 5 m/s.
These results give conditions of thermal-hydrau-
lic stability of Li target and stable operation of the
Li loop, verify the appropriateness of present
design on IFMIF target system and give guidelines
on the target design and fabrication.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. M. Seki and
Professor H. Matsui for the discussion on effec-
tiveness of simulation experiment with water jet to
investigate surface behavior of high-speed Li
flows, and to Dr. M. Akiba for the guideline on
342 M. Ida et al. / Fusion Engineering and Design 63 /64 (2002) 333 /342
the experiments and evaluation of the experimen-
tal results. Appreciation is given to members of
Thermal-hydraulic Safety and NBI Heating La-
boratories in JAERI on their preparation and
operation of the water experiments.
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