Thermal-hydraulic study of the DEMO divertor cassette body cooling circuit equipped with a liner and two reflector plates

In the framework of Work Package DIV 1 – “Divertor Cassette Design and Integration” EUROfusion action, a research campaign has been jointly carried out by University Palermo ENEA to investigate steady-state thermal-hydraulic performances DEMO divertor cassette cooling system. The activity focussed onto most recent design Body (CB) circuit, consistent with baseline 2017 equipped liner two Reflector Plates (RPs), whose main functions are protect underlying vacuum pump hole from radiation arising plasma shield PFCs inlet distributors, respectively. following theoretical-computational approach based on finite volume method adopting commercial Computational Fluid-Dynamic (CFD) code ANSYS-CFX. CB have assessed in terms coolant structure temperature, overall total pressure drop flow velocity distribution, mainly order check aptitude provide uniform effective CB, RPs structures. Moreover, margin against saturation evaluated whether any risk its bulk vaporisation is prevented. outcomes study shown some criticalities, occurrence at corner Inner Vertical Target (IVT) uneven distribution among plasma-facing channels, that suggested variations effectiveness numerically assessed. particular, solution proposed contain reduce critical region IVT predicted be particularly effective, while further studies needed improve channels. Models, loads boundary conditions assumed for analyses herewith reported critically discussed, together results obtained.