The rupture of cooling pipes within the Water Coolant Breeding Blanket (WCLL) breeding zone, called in-box Loss Of Coolant Accident (LOCA), is one of the most critical accidental scenarios that need to be studied to ensure the safety of a fusion power plant. Contact between the high-pressure water coolant and the low-pressure liquid metal breeder is expected to generate, among other effects, intense compression waves in the latter. The characterization of the pressure transient during the WCLL in-box LOCA is actively researched at several institutions, and this proposal aims to address this problem from a hitherto neglected angle, that is to say, the effect of the magnetic field on the propagation mechanism of the shock waves. Joule dissipation is expected to contribute to the wave dissipation by decreasing the shock speed compared with ordinary hydrodynamic conditions but, however, a systematic investigation has yet to be carried out for fusion relevant conditions. Direct numerical simulations with the OpenFOAM code will be realized in a prototypical configuration, a square shock tube filled with liquid metal, by considering initial pressure conditions representative of postulated accidental transients. Our study aims to investigate and characterize the effect of the magnetic field intensity and wall conductivity on the wave propagation through extensive parametric analyses. Insights gathered on such a fundamental phenomenon for the reactor safety will be immediately beneficial for the advancement of the blanket development cycle and, moreover, will expand the relatively scarce body of knowledge on the topic.
