Natural convection is an important phenomenon in liquid metal blankets where the breeder velocity is minimized to avoid large magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure losses, as it is the case for the Water-Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) concept. Movement of electrically conducting fluids in the presence of magnetic fields causes several fundamental changes in the flow structure. Among these, one should mention the formation of thin boundary layers, turbulence dampening, and convective cells alignment with the field direction. The resulting peculiar regime, called ¿magnetoconvection¿, has important consequences on the heat and mass transport phenomena happening in the blanket. This research proposal is concerned with "extreme" magnetoconvective conditions, which are established when strong magnetic fields and large temperature gradients interact, as it is often the case in fusion reactors. An extensive numerical campaign is proposed to investigate the extreme magnetoconvective regimes ensuing in a horizontally heated shallow cavity, which is representative of the WCLL elementary cell. This activity is expected to produce results that are going to drive the component design and will gain insights in the fundamental phenomena existing in this poorly characterized configuration. As a secondary objective, the numerical campaign will prove useful to support the preliminary design of a test section, which is planned to experimentally study the same phenomena treated by the simulations. The test section is planned to be realized in the new DIAEE laboratories in Via Salaria in the next years.
