Finite Element Analysis of Glass Vacuum Windows of the “COMPASS” Tokamak in Prague

Abstract

In this paper is described the mechanical stress analysis of glass vacuum windows of the "COMPASS"  tokamak using Finite Element Method. As a reference test problem the problem of uniformly loaded glass vacuum window with circular shape has been chosen, which problem can be solved also analytically.  In the case of Finite Element analysis we used two different mechanical models: 3-dimensional (3D) approach and shell modelling. For 3D approach an optimal finite element type - quadratic tetrahedron element with appropriate size - was chosen, and for shell modelling a thin axisymmetric shell element type - shell 209 - was applied. The analytic and both numerical results have been compared and summarized.