Thermal and mechanical analysis of the EAST plasma facing components

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is an advanced steady-state plasma physics experimental device, which has a long pulse (60–1000 s) capability, a flexible poloidal field system, auxiliary heating and current drive systems. Consequently, it will be able to accommodate divertor heat loads that make it an attractive test for the development of advanced tokamak operating modes. Now, the engineering designs for the EAST plasma facing component (PFC) are in progress. All the PFCs are made of copper alloy (CuCrZr) on which graphite tiles are mechanically attached. A layer of flexible graphite is placed between graphite tiles and copper alloy plate to ensure the better thermal transfer. The copper alloy are actively cooled by water flowing the cooling channel drilled by a special technology. This paper will introduce the thermal analysis including the mechanical behavior analysis for the plasma facing component using finite element method. Some candidate joint structure among the graphite tile, flexible graphite sheet and copper alloy are discussed in this paper.