Abstract
Damage assessment from proton beam induced cavitation experiments on mercury spallation targets done at the LANSCE – WNR facility has been completed. The experiments investigated two key questions for the Spallation Neutron Source target, namely, how damage is affected by flow velocity in the SNS coolant channel geometry, and how damage scales with proton beam intensity at a given constant charge per pulse. With regard to the former question, prior in-beam experiments indicated that the coolant channel geometry with stagnant mercury was especially vulnerable to damage which might warrant a design change. Yet other results indicated a reduction in damage with the introduction of flow. Using more prototypic to the SNS, the 2008 experiment damage results show the channel is less vulnerable than the bulk mercury side of the vessel wall. They also show no benefit from increasing channel flow velocity beyond nominal SNS speeds. The second question probed a consensus belief that damage scales with beam intensity (protons per unit area) by a power law dependence with exponent of around 4. Results from a 2005 experiment did not support this power law dependence but some observations were inconsistent and unexplained. These latest results show weaker damage dependence.
