Large eddy simulation of Loss of Vacuum Accident in STARDUST facility

The development of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models of air ingress into the vacuum vessel (VV) represents an important issue concerning the safety analysis of nuclear fusion devices, in particular in the field of dust mobilization. The present work deals with the large eddy simulations (LES) of fluid dynamic fields during a vessel filling at near vacuum conditions to support the safety study of Loss of Vacuum Accidents (LOVA) events triggered by air income. The model's results are compared to the experimental data provided by STARDUST facility at different pressurization rates (100 Pa/s, 300 Pa/s and 500 Pa/s). Simulation's results compare favorably with experimental data, demonstrating the possibility of implementing LES in large vacuum systems as tokamaks. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.