Pressure drop of the ITER PFCI cable-in-conduit conductor

Pressure drop in the ITER PFCI cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) has been measured at CRPP using pressurized water at room temperature. The PFCI conductor is a dual channel CICC and the coolant flows in parallel in the central channel and in the annular bundle region. In our experiment the flow in the central channel is blocked and the longitudinal friction factor of the annular bundle region is deduced from measurements of pressure drop and mass flow rate. Two conductor samples are investigated, one with and one without subcable/outer cable wraps. The results show that the wraps have a negligible effect on the friction factor, and that the Katheder correlation overestimates the actual friction factor.