Thermal analysis of a graphite first wall for RFX fusion experiment

All today's large thermonuclear fusion experiments based on the magnetic confinement of low-density plasmas in a torus are equipped with metal vessels whose purpose is twofold: to maintain the vacuum, and to act as a first wall to the ionized gas. A torus is one of the commonest configurations for the magnetic confinement of the plasma in the vacuum vessel, and is used in a major fusion experiment, called RFX, under construction at Padova. In order to assess the thermal behavior of the RFX first wall, a detailed three-dimensional thermal simulation model (suitable in principle for analyzing any toroidal chamber) has been developed, and is presented in this paper along with simulation results obtained for RFX full-performance operations.