Structural analysis of the jet TAE antenna

In this paper the mechanical design of the new active MHD antennas for JET is described and the structural/mechanical analysis for the antennas is presented. These new antennas replace the existing n = 1 or 2 saddle coils with a set of eight smaller antennas designed to excite Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAE's) with high toroidal mode number (n similar to 10) in the frequency range of 30 kHz similar to 500 kHz. TAE's with these higher mode numbers are expected in ITER and could enhance the loss of fast alpha particles in a burning plasma regime. By studying the properties of stable TAE's excited actively by these antennas, high performance regimes of operation avoiding unstable fast particle driven modes can be found. A more complete overview of the experiment may be found in Reference[1] Two antenna assemblies will be installed at toroidally opposite positions. Antenna wires are protected from the plasma heat flux by CFC tiles mounted on mini-limiters, located between the individual windings. The main structural element is a box section. The support scheme utilizes cantilevered brackets that connect to the saddle coils, and "wing" brackets which add support to the top of the frame. Conservative estimates of the disruption currents in the MHD antennas and frame were used to calculate loading and resulting stress in the antenna structure. Fields, field transients, and halo current specifications were provided by JET. The frame originally was designed as a continuous loop, and was converted to an open structure to break eddy current loops. Antenna eddy currents were computed assuming the antenna is shorted. In thefinaldesign, frame forces primarily result from halo currents entering around the mini limiters that now protect the antenna windings. Accelerations due to the vessel disruption dynamic response were included in the loading. The antenna mechanical design has been shown to perform adequately for all identified disruption loading.