2,189 research outputs found
Optimisation of confinement in a fusion reactor using a nonlinear turbulence model
The confinement of heat in the core of a magnetic fusion reactor is optimised
using a multidimensional optimisation algorithm. For the first time in such a
study, the loss of heat due to turbulence is modelled at every stage using
first-principles nonlinear simulations which accurately capture the turbulent
cascade and large-scale zonal flows. The simulations utilise a novel approach,
with gyrofluid treatment of the small-scale drift waves and gyrokinetic
treatment of the large-scale zonal flows. A simple near-circular equilibrium
with standard parameters is chosen as the initial condition. The figure of
merit, fusion power per unit volume, is calculated, and then two control
parameters, the elongation and triangularity of the outer flux surface, are
varied, with the algorithm seeking to optimise the chosen figure of merit. A
two-fold increase in the plasma power per unit volume is achieved by moving to
higher elongation and strongly negative triangularity.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, accepted to JP
Rotation and Neoclassical Ripple Transport in ITER
Neoclassical transport in the presence of non-axisymmetric magnetic fields
causes a toroidal torque known as neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV). The
toroidal symmetry of ITER will be broken by the finite number of toroidal field
coils and by test blanket modules (TBMs). The addition of ferritic inserts
(FIs) will decrease the magnitude of the toroidal field ripple. 3D magnetic
equilibria with toroidal field ripple and ferromagnetic structures are
calculated for an ITER steady-state scenario using the Variational Moments
Equilibrium Code (VMEC). Neoclassical transport quantities in the presence of
these error fields are calculated using the Stellarator Fokker-Planck Iterative
Neoclassical Conservative Solver (SFINCS). These calculations fully account for
, flux surface shaping, multiple species, magnitude of ripple, and
collisionality rather than applying approximate analytic NTV formulae. As NTV
is a complicated nonlinear function of , we study its behavior over a
plausible range of . We estimate the toroidal flow, and hence , using
a semi-analytic turbulent intrinsic rotation model and NUBEAM calculations of
neutral beam torque. The NTV from the ripple dominates
that from lower perturbations of the TBMs. With the inclusion of FIs, the
magnitude of NTV torque is reduced by about 75% near the edge. We present
comparisons of several models of tangential magnetic drifts, finding
appreciable differences only for superbanana-plateau transport at small .
We find the scaling of calculated NTV torque with ripple magnitude to indicate
that ripple-trapping may be a significant mechanism for NTV in ITER. The
computed NTV torque without ferritic components is comparable in magnitude to
the NBI and intrinsic turbulent torques and will likely damp rotation, but the
NTV torque is significantly reduced by the planned ferritic inserts
Freely decaying turbulence in two-dimensional electrostatic gyrokinetics
In magnetized plasmas, a turbulent cascade occurs in phase space at scales
smaller than the thermal Larmor radius ("sub-Larmor scales") [Phys. Rev. Lett.
103, 015003 (2009)]. When the turbulence is restricted to two spatial
dimensions perpendicular to the background magnetic field, two independent
cascades may take place simultaneously because of the presence of two
collisionless invariants. In the present work, freely decaying turbulence of
two-dimensional electrostatic gyrokinetics is investigated by means of
phenomenological theory and direct numerical simulations. A dual cascade
(forward and inverse cascades) is observed in velocity space as well as in
position space, which we diagnose by means of nonlinear transfer functions for
the collisionless invariants. We find that the turbulence tends to a
time-asymptotic state, dominated by a single scale that grows in time. A theory
of this asymptotic state is derived in the form of decay laws. Each case that
we study falls into one of three regimes (weakly collisional, marginal, and
strongly collisional), determined by a dimensionless number D*, a quantity
analogous to the Reynolds number. The marginal state is marked by a critical
number D* = D0 that is preserved in time. Turbulence initialized above this
value become increasingly inertial in time, evolving toward larger and larger
D*; turbulence initialized below D0 become more and more collisional, decaying
to progressively smaller D*.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures; replaced to match published versio
Resolving velocity space dynamics in continuum gyrokinetics
Many plasmas of interest to the astrophysical and fusion communities are
weakly collisional. In such plasmas, small scales can develop in the
distribution of particle velocities, potentially affecting observable
quantities such as turbulent fluxes. Consequently, it is necessary to monitor
velocity space resolution in gyrokinetic simulations. In this paper, we present
a set of computationally efficient diagnostics for measuring velocity space
resolution in gyrokinetic simulations and apply them to a range of plasma
physics phenomena using the continuum gyrokinetic code GS2. For the cases
considered here, it is found that the use of a collisionality at or below
experimental values allows for the resolution of plasma dynamics with
relatively few velocity space grid points. Additionally, we describe
implementation of an adaptive collision frequency which can be used to improve
velocity space resolution in the collisionless regime, where results are
expected to be independent of collision frequency.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Phys. Plasma
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