Transport in Gyrokinetic Tokamaks

Transport in Gyrokinetic Tokamaks
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 45
Release: 1995
Genre:
ISBN:

A comprehensive study of transport in full-volume gyrokinetic (gk) simulations of ion temperature gradient driven turbulence in core tokamak plasmas is presented. Though this g̀̀yrokinetic tokamak ̀̀is much simpler than experimental tokamaks, such simplicity is an asset, because a dependable nonlinear transport theory for such systems should be more attainable. Toward this end, we pursue two related lines of inquiry. (1) We study the scalings of gk tokamaks with respect to important system parameters. In contrast to real machines, the scalings of larger gk systems (a/?{sub s} ≳ 64) with minor radius, with current, and with a/?{sub s} are roughly consistent with the approximate theoretical expectations for electrostatic turbulent transport which exist as yet. Smaller systems manifest quite different scalings, which aids in interpreting differing mass-scaling results in other work. (2) With the goal of developing a first-principles theory of gk transport, we use the gk data to infer the underlying transport physics. The data indicate that, of the many modes k present in the simulation, only a modest number (N{sub k} ∼ 10) of k dominate the transport, and for each, only a handful (N{sub p} ∼ 5) of couplings to other modes p appear to be significant, implying that the essential transport physics may be described by a far simpler system than would have been expected on the basis of earlier nonlinear theory alone. Part of this analysis is the inference of the coupling coefficients M{sub kpq} governing the nonlinear mode interactions, whose measurement from tokamak simulation data is presented here for the first time.

Advances in Comprehensive Gyrokinetic Simulations of Transport in Tokamaks

Advances in Comprehensive Gyrokinetic Simulations of Transport in Tokamaks
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2004
Genre:
ISBN:

A continuum global gyrokinetic code GYRO has been developed to comprehensively simulate core turbulent transport in actual experimental profiles and enable direct quantitative comparisons to the experimental transport flows. GYRO not only treats the now standard ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode turbulence, but also treats trapped and passing electrons with collisions and finite [beta], equilibrium ExB shear stabilization, and all in real tokamak geometry. Most importantly the code operates at finite relative gyroradius ([rho]{sub *}) so as to treat the profile shear stabilization and nonlocal effects which can break gyroBohm scaling. The code operates in either a cyclic flux-tube limit (which allows only gyroBohm scaling) or a globally with physical profile variation. Rohm scaling of DIII-D L-mode has been simulated with power flows matching experiment within error bars on the ion temperature gradient. Mechanisms for broken gyroBohm scaling, neoclassical ion flows embedded in turbulence, turbulent dynamos and profile corrugations, plasma pinches and impurity flow, and simulations at fixed flow rather than fixed gradient are illustrated and discussed.

Gyrokinetic Studies of Particle Transport in Tokamaks

Gyrokinetic Studies of Particle Transport in Tokamaks
Author: Carlos Andres Estrada-Mila
Publisher:
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2006
Genre:
ISBN:

In this dissertation a systematic study of particle transport in tokamaks, using gyrokinetic simulations and theory, is presented. This work can be divided into three major parts. The first part studies particle transport in pure plasmas and investigates the origin and nature of flows against density gradients, also known as particle pinches. It is found that these pinches, which are primarily driven by temperature gradients, can also be responsible for the density peaking observed in experiments such as ASDEX-U, DIII-D or JET. The second part of this work studies plasmas with multiple ion species. First, we study helium ash transport and its effects in the core of a reactor plasma, finding that a helium pinch driven by finite toroidicity can be created in some cases. Second, we study deuterium and tritium plasmas from the point of view of isotope flow separation, finding that in a 50-50 deuterium-tritium plasma, a small fuel separation may occur. Finally, the last part studies the behavior of energetic species in reactor plasmas. It is found that alpha particles interact strongly with the background turbulence. Perhaps the most surprising finding is that the fluxes per particle of alphas can be stronger than the fluxes per particle of deuterium (i.e. main ion), as opposed to ``conventional wisdom'' which assumes that species with large gyroradii do not significantly interact with the turbulence.

ADVANCES IN COMPREHENSIVE GYROKINETIC SIMULATIONS OF TRANSPORT IN TOKAMAKS.

ADVANCES IN COMPREHENSIVE GYROKINETIC SIMULATIONS OF TRANSPORT IN TOKAMAKS.
Author: R. E. WALTZ
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2004
Genre:
ISBN:

A continuum global gyrokinetic code GYRO has been developed to comprehensively simulate core turbulent transport in actual experimental profiles and enable direct quantitative comparisons to the experimental transport flows. GYRO not only treats the now standard ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode turbulence, but also treats trapped and passing electrons with collisions and finite {beta}, equilibrium ExB shear stabilization, and all in real tokamak geometry. Most importantly the code operates at finite relative gyroradius ({rho}{sub *}) so as to treat the profile shear stabilization and nonlocal effects which can break gyroBohm scaling. The code operates in either a cyclic flux-tube limit (which allows only gyroBohm scaling) or globally with physical profile variation. Bohm scaling of DIII-D L-mode has been simulated with power flows matching experiment within error bars on the ion temperature gradient. Mechanisms for broken gyroBohm scaling, neoclassical ion flows embedded in turbulence, turbulent dynamos and profile corrugations, are illustrated.

Gyrokinetic Simulations of Turbulent Impurity Transport in Tokamaks

Gyrokinetic Simulations of Turbulent Impurity Transport in Tokamaks
Author: Pierre Manas
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

Understanding impurity transport in the core of tokamak plasmas is central to achieving controlled fusion. Indeed impurities are ubiquitous in these devices and their presence in the core are detrimental to plasma confinement (fuel dilution, Bremsstrahlung). Recently, specific attention was given to the convective mechanism related to the gradient of the toroidal rotation to explain experimental flat/hollow impurity profiles in the plasma core. In this thesis, up-to-date modelling tools (NEO for neoclassical transport and GKW for turbulent transport) including the impact of toroidal rotation are used to study both the neoclassical and turbulent contributions to impurity fluxes. A comparison of the experimental and modelled carbon density peaking factor (R/LnC) is performed for a large number of baseline and hybrid H-mode plasmas (increased confinement regimes) with modest to high toroidal rotation from the European tokamak JET. Confrontation of experimental and modelled carbon peaking factor yields two main results. First roto-diffusion is found to have a nonnegligible impact on the carbon peaking factor at high values of the toroidal rotation frequency gradient. Second, there is a tendency to overpredict the experimental R/LnC in the core inner region where the carbon density profiles are hollow. This disagreement between experimental and modelled R/LnC, closely related to the collisionality, is also observed for the momentum transport channel which hints at a common parallel symmetry breaking mechanism lacking in the simulations.