1,381 research outputs found
On the mutual effect of ion temperature gradient instabilities and impurity peaking in the reversed field pinch
The presence of impurities is considered in gyrokinetic calculations of ion
temperature gradient (ITG) instabilities and turbulence in the reversed field
pinch device RFX-mod. This device usually exhibits hollow Carbon/Oxygen
profiles, peaked in the outer core region. We describe the role of the
impurities in ITG mode destabilization, and analyze whether ITG turbulence is
compatible with their experimental gradients.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Plasma Phys.
Control. Fusio
Anomalous diffusion, clustering, and pinch of impurities in plasma edge turbulence
The turbulent transport of impurity particles in plasma edge turbulence is
investigated. The impurities are modeled as a passive fluid advected by the
electric and polarization drifts, while the ambient plasma turbulence is
modeled using the two-dimensional Hasegawa--Wakatani paradigm for resistive
drift-wave turbulence. The features of the turbulent transport of impurities
are investigated by numerical simulations using a novel code that applies
semi-Lagrangian pseudospectral schemes. The diffusive character of the
turbulent transport of ideal impurities is demonstrated by relative-diffusion
analysis of the evolution of impurity puffs. Additional effects appear for
inertial impurities as a consequence of compressibility. First, the density of
inertial impurities is found to correlate with the vorticity of the electric
drift velocity, that is, impurities cluster in vortices of a precise
orientation determined by the charge of the impurity particles. Second, a
radial pinch scaling linearly with the mass--charge ratio of the impurities is
discovered. Theoretical explanation for these observations is obtained by
analysis of the model equations.Comment: This article has been submitted to Physics of Plasmas. After it is
published, it will be found at http://pop.aip.org/pop
Validation of gyrokinetic modelling of light impurity transport including rotation in ASDEX Upgrade
Upgraded spectroscopic hardware and an improved impurity concentration
calculation allow accurate determination of boron density in the ASDEX Upgrade
tokamak. A database of boron measurements is compared to quasilinear and
nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations including Coriolis and centrifugal rotational
effects over a range of H-mode plasma regimes. The peaking of the measured
boron profiles shows a strong anti-correlation with the plasma rotation
gradient, via a relationship explained and reproduced by the theory. It is
demonstrated that the rotodiffusive impurity flux driven by the rotation
gradient is required for the modelling to reproduce the hollow boron profiles
at higher rotation gradients. The nonlinear simulations validate the
quasilinear approach, and, with the addition of perpendicular flow shear,
demonstrate that each symmetry breaking mechanism that causes momentum
transport also couples to rotodiffusion. At lower rotation gradients, the
parallel compressive convection is required to match the most peaked boron
profiles. The sensitivities of both datasets to possible errors is
investigated, and quantitative agreement is found within the estimated
uncertainties. The approach used can be considered a template for mitigating
uncertainty in quantitative comparisons between simulation and experiment.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted in Nuclear Fusio
Understanding helium transport: experimental and theoretical investigations of low-Z impurity transport at ASDEX Upgrade
The presence of helium is fundamentally connected to the performance of a fusion reactor, as fusion-produced helium is expected to heat the plasma bulk, while He 'ash' accumulation dilutes the fusion fuel. An understanding of helium transport via experimentally validated theoretical models of the low-Z impurity turbulent transport is indispensable to predict the helium density profile in future fusion devices. At ASDEX Upgrade, detailed, multi-species investigations of low-Z impurity transport have been undertaken in dedicated experiments, resulting in an extensive database of helium and boron density profiles over a wide range of parameters relevant for turbulent transport (normalised gradients of the electron density, the ion temperature, and the toroidal rotation profiles, the collisionality and the electron to ion temperature ratio). Helium is not found to accumulate in the parameter space investigated, as the shape of the helium density profile follows largely that of the electron density. Helium is observed to be as peaked as the electron density at high electron cyclotron resonance heating fraction, and less peaked than the electron density at high neutral beam heating fraction. The boron density profile is found to be consistently less peaked than the electron density profile. Detailed comparisons of the experimental density gradients of both impurities with quasilinear gyrokinetic simulations have shown that a qualitative agreement between experiment and theory cannot always be obtained, with strong discrepancies observed in some cases.EUROfusion Consortium 63305
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