Thermal-hydraulic behaviour of the ITER TF system during a quench development

In order to ensure the safety of the ITER TF magnets, a primary quench detection system has been foreseen, based on voltage detection. In addition, a secondary quench detection could rely on signals of thermo-hydraulic nature. As a matter of fact, the development of a quench in a CICC leads to significant variations of pressure and mass flow at the quenched pancake extremities. Analyses of the quench development have thus been performed using the coupled GANDALF and FLOWER codes. This tool allows to simulate the thermo-hydraulic behaviour of one CICC with a model of the external cryogenic circuit. The study has focused on the first seconds of the quench development, supposing that the quench has not been detected earlier by the primary detector. It is shown that signals regarding pressure, mass flow and temperature reach significant high values especially in the connecting feeder associated with the helium inlet. More detailed studies will be needed to select a secondary detector in this region.