Liquid metal MHD experimental activities for LLCB TBM development

In Indian Lead Lithium cooled Ceramic Breeder (LLCB) blanket concept, Lead–Lithium (Pb–Li) liquid metal is used to extract heat from its own bulk volume and also from the neighboring solid breeder zones. The moderate flow velocity of Pb–Li inside the module can be significantly modified due to MHD effects, which arise because of the presence of strong toroidal magnetic field. Recently, two MHD experiments have been jointly carried out at Institute of Physics, University of Latvia (IPUL) with hot Pb–Li (∼350 ̊C) as the working fluid under a strong transverse magnetic field of up to ∼4.0 T. The uncoated test sections are made of SS316L material and consist of LLCB TBM relevant flow geometries, such as rectangular and circular flow cross-sections, 90̊ bends, rectangular to circular flow transition region. The details of the liquid metal MHD experimental set up and experimental results are discussed in this paper.