Effects of Nuclear Elastic Scattering and Modifications of Ion-Electron Equilibration Power on Advanced-Fuel Burns
Galambos, John Douglas
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/70886
Description
Title
Effects of Nuclear Elastic Scattering and Modifications of Ion-Electron Equilibration Power on Advanced-Fuel Burns
Author(s)
Galambos, John Douglas
Issue Date
1982
Department of Study
Nuclear Engineering
Discipline
Nuclear Engineering
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Engineering, Nuclear
Abstract
The effects of Nuclear Elastic Scattering (NES) of fusion products and modifications of the ion-electron equilibration power on D-T and D-based advanced-fuel fusion plasmas are presented here. The processes causing the modifications to the equilibration power included here are (1) depletion of low-energy electrons by Coulomb collisions with the ions, and (2) magnetic field effects on the energy transfer between the ions and the electrons. Both NES and the equilibration modifications affect the flow of power to the plasma ions, which is an important factor in the analysis of advanced-fuels. It is found that the most important effect of NES is to increase the percentage of fusion product energy deposited to the ions by up to 30%, which allows larger ion-electron temperature separations (T(,i)T(,e)) for which ignition can occur. That is, the increase in the flow of power to the ions with NES included can offset increases in the flow of power from the ions to the electrons, and thus maintain a net positive flow of power to the ions for lower T(,i)/T(,e) ratios compared to the case with no NES. It was also determined that the dominant modification to the equilibration power is due to the magnetic field effects. These effects cause an increase in the equilibration power (up to 20%) and tend to decrease the allowable T(,i)/T(,e) for ignition.
A Hot Ion Mode (HIM) analysis was used to investigate the changes in the minimum ignition requirements for Cat-D and D-('3)He plasmas, due to the changes in the allowable T(,i)/T(,e) for ignition from NES and equilibration modifications. Both of these effects have the strongest influence on the ignition requirements for high temperature (> 50 keV), low beta (< 15%) plasmas, where the cyclotron radiation power loss from the electrons (which is particularly sensitive to changes in the electron temperature) is large. However, the NES effects overwhelm those of the magnetic field increases in the equilibration power, causing a net increase in the T(,i)/T(,e) ratio allowable for ignition to occur (10%). The associated reductions in the ignition requirements are found to be as large as 30% for the case where cyclotron losses are important.
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