Benchmarks and Tests of a Multidimensional Cluster Dynamics Model of Helium Implantation in Tungsten

S Blondel and DE Bernholdt and KD Hammond and L Hu and D Maroudas and BD Wirth, FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 71, 84-92 (2017).

DOI: 10.13182/FST16-109

We present a hierarchical multiscale modeling study of implanted helium (He) segregation near grain boundaries (GBs) of tungsten. We extend our spatially dependent cluster dynamics model to two spatial dimensions in order to take into account the biased drift of mobile He clusters toward the GBs observed in atomic-scale simulations. We are able to reproduce the results from large-scale molecular dynamics simulations near and away from the GBs at low fluence with the extended cluster dynamics model. We suggest and verify that the sink (surface and GB) strengths are attenuated by the increasing concentration of He clusters at high fluence. This cluster dynamics model continues to set the stage for development of fully atomistically informed, coarse-grained models for computationally efficient predictions of He retention and surface morphological evolution, advancing progress toward the goal of efficient and optimal design of plasma-facing components.

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