14 research outputs found
Turbulent impurity transport simulations in Wendelstein 7-X plasmas
A study of turbulent impurity transport by means of quasilinear and nonlinear
gyrokinetic simulations is presented for Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X). The
calculations have been carried out with the recently developed gyrokinetic code
stella. Different impurity species are considered in the presence of various
types of background instabilities: ITG, TEM and ETG modes for the quasilinear
part of the work; ITG and TEM for the nonlinear results. While the quasilinear
approach allows one to draw qualitative conclusions about the sign or relative
importance of the various contributions to the flux, the nonlinear simulations
quantitatively determine the size of the turbulent flux and check the extent to
which the quasilinear conclusions hold. Although the bulk of the nonlinear
simulations are performed at trace impurity concentration, nonlinear
simulations are also carried out at realistic effective charge values, in order
to know to what degree the conclusions based on the simulations performed for
trace impurities can be extrapolated to realistic impurity concentrations. The
presented results conclude that the turbulent radial impurity transport in W7-X
is mainly dominated by ordinary diffusion, which is close to that measured
during the recent W7-X experimental campaigns. It is also confirmed that
thermo-diffusion adds a weak inward flux contribution and that, in the absence
of impurity temperature and density gradients, ITG- and TEM-driven turbulence
push the impurities inwards and outwards, respectively.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 2 table
Quantitative comparison of impurity transport in turbulence reduced and enhanced scenarios at Wendelstein 7-X
We assess the turbulent particle transport being responsible for the limitation of the confinement and, thus, the overall performance of the neoclassically optimized stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. The radial particle transport is experimentally inferred from the evaluation of impurity injection into turbulence reduced and enhanced plasma scenarios revealing a completely different confinement behavior. The impact of the density gradient on the turbulent ion transport is theoretically estimated using large-scale non-linear gyro-kinetic simulations enabling, for the first time in Wendelstein 7-X, a quantitative comparison to the experimentally assessed impurity transport properties. We demonstrate that impurity transport in most of the Wendelstein 7-X discharges, up to now impossible to cover only with neoclassical estimations, is dominated by turbulence and can be modelled via gyro-kinetic simulations
Observation of impurity accumulation and its compatibility with high plasma performance in W7-X
At the W7-X stellarator, the bolometer system has measured an intensive radiation zone in the inner plasma region (at a normalized radius ρ ∼ 0.3–0.4) in the hydrogen plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance heating; it differs from the normal plasma radiation distribution with an edge-localized emission zone. Spectroscopic diagnostics have recorded high-Z elements such as iron. This phenomenon happens in the plasma phases after gas supply turn-off, which results in all impurity relevant diagnostic signals increasing for several seconds. Despite the enhancement of the core radiation, the plasma energy confinement is improved. A transport analysis shows that this impurity radiation behavior is associated with a low diffusion coefficient (D∼ 0.02 m2 s−1) and a reversal of the convection around the radial position of the emission peak, which, under normal conditions, separates the zones of outward convection in the central (|V| ∼ 0.1 m s−1) and inward convection in the outer region (|V| ∼ 0.3 m s−1). An impurity accumulation around this radial position has been identified. The transport coefficients obtained are comparable with the theoretical predictions of collisional impurity transport. In the plasma phases studied, both impurity and energy confinement are enhanced. The mechanism responsible for the improvement is believed to be a reduction of micro-instabilities associated with the observed steepening of the density profile, initiated by a low edge plasma density (<1.0 × 1019 m−3) after switching off the gas fueling. The normalized temperature and density gradients fulfil the condition for the suppression of ITG turbulence
Confinement in electron heated plasmas in Wendelstein 7-X and ASDEX Upgrade; the necessity to control turbulent transport
In electron (cyclotron) heated plasmas, in both ASDEX Upgrade (L-mode) and Wendelstein 7-X, clamping of the ion temperature occurs at Ti ∼ 1.5 keV independent of magnetic configuration. The ions in such plasmas are heated through the energy exchange power as , which offers a broad ion heating profile, similar to that offered by alpha heating in future thermonuclear fusion reactors. However, the predominant electron heating may put an additional constraint on the ion heat transport, as the ratio Te/Ti > 1 can exacerbates ITG/TEM core turbulence. Therefore, in practical terms the strongly 'stiff' core transport translates into Ti-clamping in electron heated plasmas. Due to this clamping, electron heated L-mode scenarios, with standard gas fueling, in either tokamaks or stellarators may struggle to reach high normalized ion temperature gradients required in a compact fusion reactor. The comparison shows that core heat transport in neoclassically optimized stellarators is driven by the same mechanisms as in tokamaks. The absence of a strong H-mode temperature edge pedestal in stellarators, sofar (which, like in tokamaks, could lift the clamped temperature-gradients in the core), puts a strong requirement on reliable and sustainable core turbulence suppression techniques in stellarators.EC/H2020/633053/EU/Implementation of activities described in the Roadmap to Fusion during Horizon 2020 through a Joint programme of the members of the EUROfusion consortium/Eurato