Thermo-mechanical analysis of Wendelstein 7-X plasma facing components

The stellarator experiment Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is designed for stationary plasma operation (30 min). Plasma facing components (PFCs) such as the divertor targets, baffles, heat shields and wall panels are being installed in the plasma vessel (PV) in order to protect it and other in-vessel components. The different PFCs will be exposed to different magnitude of heat loads in the range of 100 kW/m2–10 MW/m2 during plasma operation. An important issue concerning the design of these PFCs is the thermo-mechanical analysis to verify their suitability for the specified operation phases. A series of finite element (FE) simulations has been performed to achieve this goal. Previous studies focused on the test divertor unit (TDU) and high heat flux (HHF) target elements. The paper presents detailed FE thermo-mechanical analyses of a prototype HHF target module, baffles, heat shields and wall panels, as well as benchmarking against tests.