Structural Analysis And Optimization Of ITER FEEDER GIMBALS

GIMBALS, parts of FEEDER in ITER, connect in-cryostat-feeder with Cryostst Feeder-Through in Tokamak device within the poloidal field of the superconducting magnet. GIMBAL designing work involves electromagnetism, heat-transfer theory, mechanics and material science,etc. Considering safety and reliability, before the manufacture of FEEDER Gimbals, multi-physics simulation analysis must be used to determine the stress state of FEEDER GIMBAL and provide basis for the structure design.In this paper, the three-dimensinal geometric modeling of GIMBAL is modeled in the CATIA environment. Based on this modeling, structural strength is analysed by researching the stress state of GIMBAL, which mainly analyzes the stress distribution of GIMBAL’s pin at work. In order to obtain detailed understanding of the mechaniacal properties of GIMBAL at work, HyperMesh and ANSYS Workbench are used to make analyses on the individual parts and the entire assembly of the GIMBAL respectively and obtain the corresponding stress nephogram. Then the author testifies the safety of the GIMBAL according to the theory of strength.Considering operational security of the GIMBAL and the design requirement of ITER project, the dynamics analysis should be carried on the feeder system. Then gets the natural frequency and vibration mode of the structure, and figures out feeder structure’s maximum stress and maximum displacement when applied different directions of SDD earthquake response spectrum, finally verifies the security of GIMBAL under seismic loads.This paper provides basis for the design of ITER FEEDER GIMBAL from the perspective of the mechanics analysis and lays the theoretical foundation for manufacture, installation and use of the GIMBAL in the future.