Ansys, a developer of simulation software and technologies designed to optimise product development processes, has announced that ITER has adopted software from Ansys to validate the design of its international fusion power plant development project.
ITER, a multinational organisation, aims to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power. The partners in the project - called the ITER Parties - are the European Union, Japan, the People´s Republic of China, the Republic of India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA ITER will be constructed in Europe at Cadarache, in the south of France.
Engineering simulation products from Ansys will be used to accelerate research and development by optimising key components of the experimental fusion reactor. Researchers will use the broad and linked simulation capabilities within the Ansys Workbench platform to conduct dynamic analyses, non-linear thermal analysis, electro-magnetic analyses, coupled field analyses and non-linear structural analyses of the facility. Construction and commissioning of the project is expected to take about eight years, once a construction license is granted in early 2009.
"Our experience has shown that Ansys software gives engineers the opportunity to analyse all kinds of engineering problems in an efficient and flexible manner. The analyses performed to date have provided invaluable information about the mechanical behaviour of the ITER components, such as the magnet system, vacuum vessel, divertor and other components," said Cornelis Jong, mechanical engineer in the magnet division at ITER. "These tools will contribute to ITER’s success, leading to large-scale nuclear power without a long-term nuclear waste stream - which would be a monumental environmental and economic achievement in the 21st century."
The ITER fusion reactor is based on the tokamak concept, in which low-temperature, super-conducting coils are positioned around a toroidal vessel. These coils produce magnetic forces that confine hot plasma long enough to generate ten times more power through fusion than required to keep it hot.
ITER intends to demonstrate that fusion could be used to generate electrical power; the aim of the project is to gain the necessary data to design and operate the first electricity-producing fusion plant.
"We at Ansys are excited to be providing single-platform multiphysics CAE solutions to the ITER organisation, and to be taking part in the quest for a clean and abundant energy source for the future," said Chris Reid, vice president, marketing at Ansys.