Calculation of heat fluxes induced by radio frequency heating on the actively cooled protections of ion cyclotron resonant heating (ICRH) and lower hybrid (LH) antennas in Tore Supra

Lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) and ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) are recognized as important auxiliary heating and current drive methods for present and next step fusion devices. However, these radio frequency (RF) systems generate a heat flux up to several MW/m2 on the RF antennas during plasma operation. This paper focuses on the determination of the heat flux deposited on the lateral protections of the RF antennas in Tore Supra. The heat flux was calculated by finite element method (FEM) using a model of the lateral protection. The FEM calculation was based on surface temperature measurements using infrared cameras monitoring the RF antennas. The heat flux related to the acceleration of electrons in front of the LHCD grills (LHCD active) and to the acceleration of ions in RF-rectified sheath potentials (ICRH active) were calculated. Complementary results on the heat flux related to fast ions (ICRH active with a relatively low magnetic field) are also reported in this paper.