Target Cooling for the TOF Experiment

In the TOF experiment, a high-energy proton beam is sent on a lead target, which releases an important amount of heat inside. In order to avoid that the target temperature rises over the lead melting point, a cooling system was designed. Starting from the heat distribution generated inside the target by the proton beam, steady and unsteady simulations of the target thermal behavior were carried out. These simulations were performed with different ways of cooling and in the various beam configurations foreseen for the experiment. It will be explained how these simulations helped to design a suitable water cooling system for the target. The hydraulic circuit providing the cool water will be briefly described as well.