A new meshless approach to map electromagnetic loads for FEM analysis on DEMO TF coil system

Demonstration fusion reactors (DEMO) are being envisaged to be able to produce commercial electrical power. The design of the DEMO magnets and of the constituting conductors is a crucial issue in the overall engineering design of such a large fusion machine. In the frame of the EU roadmap of the so-called fast track approach, mechanical studies of preliminary DEMO toroidal field (TF) coil system conceptual designs are being enforced. The magnetic field load acting on the DEMO TF coil conductor has to be evaluated as input in the FEM model mesh, in order to evaluate the stresses on the mechanical structure. To gain flexibility, a novel approach based on the meshless method of radial basis functions (RBF) has been implemented. The present paper describes this original and flexible approach for the generation and mapping of magnetic load on DEMO TF coil system. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.