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Wakui, Takashi; Takagishi, Yoichi*; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Zairyo, 73(6), p.520 - 526, 2024/06
Cavitation damage is one of crucial issues to predict the structural endurability of the mercury targets for highly intensive pulsed neutron sources. Based on the comparison with numerical simulation on the pit shape and results of the basic test, the cavitation bubble collapsing was assumed to be resulted in the micro jet with the impact velocity of 160-200 m/s, imposing then impact pressure of 3-4 GPa at the input power simulating the operation condition in the mercury targets. It was statistically understandable that cavitation damage evolution was proportional to 4th power of the input power approximately, as taking the aggressivity of cavitation bubbles, the distribution of the maximum diameter of grown bubbles and the space of distribution of bubbles in the mercury into account.
Wakui, Takashi; Takagishi, Yoichi*; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Materials, 16(17), p.5830_1 - 5830_16, 2023/09
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Chemistry, Physical)Cavitation damage on the mercury target vessel is induced by proton beam injection in mercury. The prediction method of the cavitation damage using Monte Carlo simulations was proposed taking into account of the uncertainties of the position of cavitation bubbles and impact pressure distributions. The distribution of impact pressure attributed to individual cavitation bubble collapsing was assumed to be the Gaussian distribution, and the probability distribution of the maximum value of impact pressures was assumed to be three kinds of distributions; the delta function, the Gaussian and Weibull distributions. Two parameters were estimated using Bayesian optimization by comparing the distribution of the cavitation damage obtained from experiment with that of accumulated plastic strain obtained from the simulation. It was found that the results obtained using the Weibull distribution reproduced the actual cavitation erosion phenomenon better than the other results.
Wakui, Takashi; Takagishi, Yoichi*; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Tanabe, Makoto*
Jikken Rikigaku, 23(2), p.168 - 174, 2023/06
Cavitation damage on the inner surface of the mercury target for the spallation neutron source occurs by proton bombarding in mercury. The prediction method of the cavitation damage using Monte Carlo simulations was suggested taking variability of the bubble core position and impact pressure distribution into account. The impact pressure distribution was estimated using the inverse analysis with Bayesian optimization was conducted with comparison between cavitation damage distribution obtained from experiment and the cumulative plastic strain distribution obtained from simulation. The average value and spread of maximum impact pressure estimated assuming the Gaussian distribution were 3.1 GPa and 1.2 m, respectively. Simulation results reproduced experimental results and it can be said that this evaluation method is useful.
Naoe, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Wakui, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro
JAEA-Technology 2022-018, 43 Pages, 2022/08
In the liquid mercury target system for the pulsed spallation neutron source of Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), cavitation that is generated by the high-energy proton beam-induced pressure waves, resulting severe erosion damage on the interior surface of the mercury target vessel. The erosion damage is increased with increasing the proton beam power, and has the possibility to cause the leakage of mercury by the penetrated damage and/or the fatigue failure originated from erosion pits during operation. To achieve the long term stable operation under high-power proton beam, the mitigation technologies for cavitation erosion consisting of surface modification on the vessel interior surface, helium gas microbubble injection, double-walled beam window structure has been applied. The damage on interior surface of the vessel is never observed during the beam operation. Therefore, after the target operation term ends, we have cut out specimen from the target nose of the target vessel to inspect damaged surface in detail for verification of the cavitation damage mitigation technologies and lifetime estimation. We have developed the techniques of specimen cutting out by remote handling under high-radiation environment. Cutting method was gradually updated based on experience in actual cutting for the used target vessel. In this report, techniques of specimen cutting out for the beam entrance portion of the target vessel in high-radiation environment and overview of the results of specimen cutting from actual target vessels are described.
Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 13 Pages, 2022/03
The cross-flow type target was developed as the basic design of mercury target in J-PARC, and the design has been improved to realize the MW-class pulsed spallation neutron source. When the high-power and short-pulsed proton beam is injected into the mercury target, pressure waves are generated in mercury by rapid heat generation. The pressure waves induce the cavitation damages on the target vessel. Two countermeasures were adopted, namely, the injection of microbubbles into mercury and the double walled structure at the beam window. The bubble generator was installed in the target vessel to absorb the volume inflation of mercury and mitigate the pressure waves. Also, the double walled target vessel was designed to suppress the cavitation damage by the large velocity gradient of rapid mercury flow in the narrow channel of double wall. Finally, we could attain 1 MW beam operation with the duration time of 36.5 hours in 2020, and achieved the long term stable operation with 740 kW from April in 2021. This report shows the technical development of the high-power mercury target vessel in view of thermal hydraulics to attain 1 MW operation.
Teshigawara, Makoto; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Kinsho, Michikazu; Soyama, Kazuhiko
JAEA-Technology 2021-022, 208 Pages, 2022/02
The Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) is an accelerator driven pulsed spallation neutron and muon source with a 1 MW proton beam. The construction began in 2004, and we started beam operation in 2008. Although problems such as exudation of cooling water from the target container have occurred, as of April 2021, the proton beam power has reached up to 700 kW gradually, and stable operation is being performed. In recent years, the operation experience of the rated 1 MW has been steadily accumulated. Several issues such as the durability of the target container have been revealed according to the increase in the operation time. Aiming at making a further improvement of MLF, we summarized the current status of achievements for the design values, such as accelerator technology (LINAC and RCS), neutron and muon source technology, beam transportation of these particles, detection technology, and neutron and muon instruments. Based on the analysis of the current status, we tried to extract improvement points for upgrade of MLF. Through these works, we will raise new proposals that promote the upgrade of MLF, attracting young people. We would like to lead to the further success of researchers and engineers who will lead the next generation.
Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Hanano, Kohei*; Haga, Katsuhiro; Shimada, Tsubasa*; Kanomata, Kenichi*
Materials Science Forum, 1024, p.145 - 150, 2021/03
To realize a high beam power operation at the J-PARC, a mercury target vessel covered with water shroud was developed. In the first step, to realize an operation at 500 kW, the basic structure of the initial design was followed and the connection method between the mercury vessel and the water shroud was changed. Additionally, the operation at a beam power of 500 kW was realized in approximately eight months. In the second step, to realize the operation at 1 MW, the new structure in which only rear ends of vessels were connected was investigated. Cooling of the mercury vessel is used to reduce thermal stress and thick vessels of the water shroud are used to increase stiffness for the internal pressure; therefore, it was adopted. The stress in each vessel was lower than the allowable stress based on the pressure vessel code criteria prescribed in the Japan Industrial Standard, and confirmation was obtained that the operation with a beam power of 1 MW could be conducted.
Matsuda, Hiroki; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Meigo, Shinichiro; Takeshita, Hayato*; Maekawa, Fujio
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 483, p.33 - 40, 2020/11
Times Cited Count:3 Percentile:32.71(Instruments & Instrumentation)A thick target neutron yield for a mercury target at an angle of 180 from the incident beam direction is measured with the time-of-flight method using a 3-GeV proton beam at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Comparing the experimental result with a Monte Carlo particle transport simulation by the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) shows that there are apparent discrepancies. We find that this trend is consistent with an experimental result of neutron-induced re- action rates obtained using indium and niobium activation foils. Comparing proton-induced neutron-production double-differential cross-sections for a lead target at backward directions between the PHITS calculation and experimental data suggests that the dis- crepancies for our experiments would be linked to the neutron production calculation around 3 GeV by the PHITS spallation model and/or the calculation of nonelastic cross-sections around 3 GeV in the particle transport simulation.
Takada, Hiroshi; Haga, Katsuhiro
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.081003_1 - 081003_7, 2020/02
At the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), the pulsed spallation neutron source has been in operation with a redesigned mercury target vessel from October 2017 to July 2018, during which the operational beam power was restored to 500 kW and the operation with a 1-MW equivalent beam was demonstrated for one hour. The target vessel includes a gas-micro-bubbles injector and a 2-mm-wide narrow mercury flow channel at the front end as measures to suppress the cavitation damage. After the operating period, it was observed that the cavitation damage at the 3-mm-thick front end of the target vessel could be suppressed less than 17.5 m.
Naoe, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi
JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.081004_1 - 081004_6, 2020/02
The beam window of the mercury target vessel in J-PARC is severely damaged by the cavitation. The cavitation damage is a crucial factor to limit lifetime of the target because it increases with the beam power. Therefore, mitigating cavitation damage is an important issue to operate the target stably for long time at 1 MW. At J-PARC, to mitigate the cavitation damage: gas microbubbles are injected into mercury for suppressing pressure waves, and double-walled structure with a narrow channel of 2 mm in width to form high-speed mercury flow (4m/s) has been adopted. After operation, the beam window was cut to inspect the effect of the cavitation damage mitigation on inner wall. We optimized cutting conditions through the cold cutting tests, succeeding in cutting the target No.2 (without damage mitigation technologies) smoothly in 2017, and target No.8 with damage mitigation technologies. In the workshop, progress of cavitation damage observation for the target vessel will be presented.
Wakui, Takashi; Ishii, Hideaki*; Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Wakai, Eiichi; Takada, Hiroshi; Futakawa, Masatoshi
Materials Transactions, 60(6), p.1026 - 1033, 2019/06
Times Cited Count:3 Percentile:15.92(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)The mercury target has large size as 1.31.32.5 m. In view of reducing the amount of wastes, we studied the structure so that the fore part could be separated. The flange is required to have high seal performance less than 110 Pa m/s. Invar with low thermal expansion is a candidate. Due to its low stiffness, however, the flange may deform when it is fastened by bolts. Practically invar is reinforced with stainless steel where all interface between them has to be bonded completely with the HIP bonding. In this study, we made specimens at four temperatures and conducted tensile tests. The specimen bonded at 973 K had little diffusion layer, and so fractured at the interface. The tensile strength reduced with increasing the temperature, and the reduced amount was about 10% at 1473 K. The analyzed residual stresses near the interface increased by 50% at maximum. Then, we concluded that the optimum temperature was 1173 K.
Wakui, Takashi; Wakai, Eiichi; Naoe, Takashi; Shintaku, Yohei*; Li, T.*; Murakami, Kazuya*; Kanomata, Kenichi*; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro; Takada, Hiroshi; et al.
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 506, p.3 - 11, 2018/08
Times Cited Count:4 Percentile:35.54(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)The mercury target vessel is designed as multi-walled structure with thin wall (min. 3 mm), and assembled by welding. In order to estimate the structural integrity of the vessel, it is important to measure the defects in welding accurately. For nondestructive tests of the welding, radiographic testing is applicable but it is difficult to detect for some defect shapes. Therefore it is effective to do ultrasonic testing together with it. Because ultrasonic methods prescribed in JIS inspect on the plate with more than 6 mm in thickness, these methods couldn't be applied as the inspection on the vessel with thin walls. In order to develop effective method, we carried out measurements using some testing method on samples with small defect whose size is specified. In the case of the latest phased array method, measured value agreed with actual size. It was found that this method was applicable to detect defects in the thin-walled structure for which accurate inspection was difficult so far.
Kai, Tetsuya; Uchida, Toshitsugu; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Seki, Masakazu; Oi, Motoki; Wakui, Takashi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Kasugai, Yoshimi; Takada, Hiroshi
Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 1021(1), p.012042_1 - 012042_4, 2018/06
Times Cited Count:0 Percentile:0.00(Nuclear Science & Technology)Takada, Hiroshi
Plasma and Fusion Research (Internet), 13(Sp.1), p.2505013_1 - 2505013_8, 2018/03
The pulsed spallation neutron source of Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) has been supplying users with high intensity and sharp pulse cold neutrons using the moderators with following distinctive features; (1) 100% para-hydrogen for increasing pulse peak intensity with decreasing pulse tail, (2) cylindrical shape with 14 cm diam.12 cm long for providing high intensity neutrons to wide neutron extraction angles of 50.8, (3) neutron absorber made from Ag-In-Cd alloy to make pulse width narrower and pulse tails lower. Actually, it was measured at a low power operation that high neutron intensity of 4.510 n/cm/s/sr could be emitted from the coupled moderator surface for 1-MW operation, and a superior resolution of d/d = 0.035% was achieved at a beamline (BL8) with a poisoned moderator, where d is the d-spacing of reflection. Towards the goal to achieve the target operation at 1-MW for 5000 h in a year, technical developments to mitigate cavitation damages on the target vessel with injecting gas micro-bubbles into mercury target and design improvement of target vessel structure to reducing welds and bolt connections as much as possible are under way.
Haga, Katsuhiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Naoe, Takashi; Takada, Hiroshi
Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 55(2), p.160 - 168, 2018/02
Times Cited Count:5 Percentile:42.78(Nuclear Science & Technology)The mercury target vessel used for the spallation neutron source in J-PARC has multi-walled structure made of stainless steel type 316L, which comprises a mercury vessel and a water shroud. In 2015, water leak incidents from the water shroud occurred while the mercury target was operated with a proton beam power of 500 kW. Several investigations were conducted to identify the cause of failure. The results of the visual inspections, mockup tests, and analytical evaluations suggested that the water leak was caused by the combination of two factors. One was the diffusion bonding failure due to the large thermal stress induced by welding of the bolt head, which fixes the mercury vessel and the water shroud, during the fabrication process. The other was the thermal fatigue failure of the seal weld due to the repetitive beam trip during the operating period. These target failures point to the importance of eliminating initial defects from welding lines and to secure the rigidity and reliability of welded structures. The next mercury target was fabricated with an improved design which adopted parts of monolithic structure machined by wire EDM to reduce welding lines, and intensified inspections to eliminate the initial defects. The operation with the improved target is planned to be started in October 2017.
Iwamoto, Hiroki; Maekawa, Fujio; Matsuda, Hiroki; Meigo, Shinichiro
JAEA-Technology 2017-029, 39 Pages, 2018/01
Under an assumption that an incident of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) leak from an LBE circulation system occurred during a 250-kW beam operation, an estimation of radiation dose at the site boundary for the ADS Target Test Facility (TEF-T) in Transmutation Experimental Facility (TEF) of J-PARC was conducted using various conservative assumptions. As a result, the radiation dose at the site boundary was estimated to be about 660 Sv, which were dominated by mercury, noble gas, and iodine produced as spallation products from the LBE. Even though the incident scenario was made conservatively, it was shown that the estimated total dose was lower than the annual radiation dose due to natural sources, and the TEF-T has sufficient safety margin for the leak of radioactivity.
Takada, Hiroshi; Haga, Katsuhiro; Teshigawara, Makoto; Aso, Tomokazu; Meigo, Shinichiro; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Oi, Motoki; Harada, Masahide; et al.
Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 1(2), p.8_1 - 8_26, 2017/09
At the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), a pulsed spallation neutron source provides neutrons with high intensity and narrow pulse width to promote researches on a variety of science in the Materials and life science experimental facility. It was designed to be driven by the proton beam with an energy of 3 GeV, a power of 1 MW at a repetition rate of 25 Hz, that is world's highest power level. A mercury target and three types of liquid para-hydrogen moderators are core components of the spallation neutron source. It is still on the way towards the goal to accomplish the operation with a 1 MW proton beam. In this paper, distinctive features of the target-moderator-reflector system of the pulsed spallation neutron source are reviewed.
Takada, Hiroshi; Naoe, Takashi; Kai, Tetsuya; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro
Proceedings of 12th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Applications of Accelerators (AccApp '15), p.297 - 304, 2016/00
In J-PARC, we have continuously been making efforts to operate a mercury target of a pulsed spallation neutron source with rated power of 1-MW. One of technical progresses is to mitigate cavitation damages at the target vessel front induced by the 3-GeV proton beam injection at 25 Hz. We have improved the performance of a gas micro-bubbles injection into the mercury target, resulting that no significant cavitation damages was observed on the inner surface of target vessel after operation for 2050 MWh with the 300-kW proton beam. Another progress is to suppress the release of gaseous radioactive isotopes, especially tritium, during the target vessel replacement. We have introduced a procedure to evacuate the target system by an off-gas processing apparatus when it is opened during the replacement operation, achieving to suppress the tritium release through the stack. For example, the amount of released tritium was 12.5 GBq, only 5.4% of the estimated amount, after the 2050 MWh operation. After these progresses, the operating beam power for the pulsed spallation neutron source was ramped up to 500-kW in April, 2015.
Naoe, Takashi; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Oi, Toshiyuki; Ishikura, Shuichi*; Ikeda, Yujiro
Zairyo, 54(11), p.1184 - 1190, 2005/11
High power spallation targets for neutron sources are being developed in the world. Mercury target will be installed at the material science and life facility in J-PARC, which will promote innovative science. The mercury target is subject to the pressure wave caused by the proton bombarding in the mercury. The pressure wave propagation induces the cavitation in mercury that imposes localized impact damage on the target vessel. The impact erosion is a critical issue to decide the lifetime of the target. The electro Magnetic IMpact Testing Machine, MIMTM, was developed to reproduce the localized impact erosion damage and evaluate the damage formation. Additionally, droplet impact analysis was carried out to investigate the correlation between isolate pit profile and micro-jet velocity. We confirmed that value of depth/radius was able to estimate micro jet-velocity. And the velocity at 560W in MIMTM was estimated to be 225325 m/s. Furthermore, surface-hardening treatments were inhibited pit formation in plastic deformation.
Futakawa, Masatoshi; Naoe, Takashi*; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Date, Hidefumi*; Ikeda, Yujiro
JSME International Journal, Series A, 48(4), p.234 - 239, 2005/10
Mercury target will be installed at the material science and life facility in J-PARC, which will promote innovative science. The mercury target will be subjected to the pressure wave caused by proton bombarding in the mercury. The pressure wave propagation induces the cavitation in mercury that imposes localized impact damage on the target vessel. The impact erosion is a critical issue to decide the lifetime of target. An electromagnetic impact testing machine, MIMTM, was developed to reproduce the localized impact erosion damage and evaluate the damage formation. Additionally, droplet impact analyses were carried out to investigate the correlation between isolate pit profile and micro-jet velocity. We confirmed that the value of depth/radius was applicable to estimate micro-jet velocity, and the velocity at 560 W in MIMTM equivalent to 1MW proton beam injection was 300 m/s approximately.