Gao, Y. C. | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2023

Modeling of plasma beta effects on the island divertor transport in the standard configuration of W7-X

The influence of plasma beta effects on the edge plasma transport in the Wendelstein 7-X standard configuration is studied systematically by using EMC3-EIRENE combined with a 3D equilibrium code named HINT. The magnetic topology changes induced by plasma beta effects are significantly reflected in plasma transport behaviors and heat flux patterns on divertor targets. After validating the modeling strategy by comparisons with experimental data, the extended simulations for high performance plasmas show that the threshold separatrix density for accessing the power detachment is reduced in higher beta plasmas. Compared with the vacuum field case, the impurity radiation distributions with finite beta effects are modified in the magnetic island region. The divertor heat flux is distributed more evenly along the toroidal direction on the strike line at the vertical target. The strike line on the horizontal target moves towards the pumping gap with an increase in the plasma beta. In addition, the different pressure profiles with the same central beta also result in a modified heat flux pattern on the divertor targets.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS1983

Dynamic fields near a crack tip growing in an elastic-perfectly-plastic solid

A full asymptotic solution is presented for the fields in the neighborhood of the tip of a steadily advancing crack in an incompressible elastic-perfectly-plastic solid. There are four findings for mode I crack growth in the plane strain condition. The first is that the entire crack tip in steady crack growth is surrounded by a plastic region and that no elastic unloading is predicted by the complete dynamic asymptotic solution. The second is that, in contrast to the quasi-static solution, the dynamic solution yields strain fields with a logarithmic singularity everywhere near the crack tip. The third is that whereas the stress field varies throughout the entire crack tip neighborhood, it does not exhibit behavior that can be approximated by a constant field followed by an essentially centered-fan field and then by another constant field, especially for small crack growth speeds. The fourth finding is that there are two shock fronts emanating from the crack tip across which certain stress and strain components undergo jump discontinuities. After reviewing the mode III steady-state crack growth, it is concluded that ductile fracture criteria for nonstationary cracks must be based on solutions that include the inertia effects and that for this purpose quasi-static solutions may be inadequate.

Nemat-Nasser, S.↗