Design of a high power production target for the beam dump facility at CERN

Abstract

The beam dump facility (BDF) project is a proposed general-purpose facility at CERN, dedicated to beam dump and fixed target experiments. In its initial phase, the facility is foreseen to be exploited by the Search for Hidden Particles Experiment. Physics requirements call for a pulsed 400 GeV/c proton beam as well as the highest possible number of protons on target each year of operation (4.0×10^{19}/year), in order to search for feebly interacting particles. The target/dump assembly lies at the heart of the facility, with the aim of safely absorbing the full high intensity Super Proton Synchrotron beam, while maximizing the production of charmed and beauty mesons. High-Z materials are required for the target/dump, in order to have the shortest possible absorber and reduce muon background for the downstream experiment. The design of the production target is one of the most challenging aspects of the facility design, due to the high energy and power density deposition that are reached during operation, and the resulting thermomechanical loads. The nature of the beam pulse induces very high temperature excursions between pulses (up to 100 °C), leading to considerable thermally induced stresses and long-term fatigue considerations. The high average power deposited on target (305 kW) creates a challenge for heat removal. During the BDF facility comprehensive design study, launched by CERN in 2016, extensive studies have been carried out in order to define and assess the target assembly design. These studies are described in the present contribution, which details the proposed design of the BDF production target, as well as the material selection process and the optimization of the target configuration and beam dilution. One of the specific challenges and novelty of this work is the need to consider new target materials, such as a molybdenum alloy as core absorbing material and Ta2.5W as cladding. Thermostructural and fluid dynamics calculations have been performed to evaluate the reliability of the target and its cooling system under beam operation. In the framework of the target comprehensive design, a preliminary mechanical design of the full target assembly has also been carried out, assessing the feasibility of the whole target system.