Effects of pulsed power input into a liquid metal target

In order to validate the computations of stress generated in the target container by the sudden input of a large amount of power in the liquid metal of a high-power spallation target, first experimental investigations were carried out in an international collaboration. Temperature and beam profile measurements showed that up to 61% of the incoming beam power was deposited in the target. The spatial power distribution was reconstructed from the experimental data. A computational model with consideration of fluid-structure interface was employed to simulate the pressure waves in the liquid and the resulting dynamic stress on the container. The maximum stress on the container was found to be 13.6 MP. Although experimental data are still very preliminary, a comparison of the measured stress and deformation data with the computational results showed reasonable agreement in the amplitudes, which are the most important data for engineering design. Although the methods developed to measure the strain on the target surface were found to be adequate in principle, improvements on both experimental and computational sides are necessary for further investigations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.