Improved Modeling Of Turbulent Transport: From Noise In Transport Models To The Parareal Algorithm Applied To Full Turbulence Codes

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010Turbulence and turbulent transport are ubiquitous in nature and are of fundamental importance in everything from the spread of pollution to confinement in fusion plasmas. In order to study this, turbulence models need to be as realistic as possible and one must also be able to evolve the turbulence and the profiles of the quantities of interest on transport (long) time scales. Improving turbulence simulations by the introduction of new techniques forms the basis of this research. One part of this work involved improving the performance of a 1D transport model by the addition of noise. On a more fundamental level, studying long time dynamics for turbulence simulations is very difficult even with the fastest computers available now or in the near future. To help overcome this difficulty, a new way of simulating turbulence has been presented, namely parallelizing in time. Time parallelization of a fully developed turbulent system is a new application. Parallelizing the space domain to computationally solve partial differential equations has been extensively used and is one of the most common forms of parallelization. In contrast, the Parareal Algorithm parallelizes the time domain and has been found to significantly reduce the computational wall time in many simpler systems. Despite its success in other less complex problems, it has not yet been successfully applied to a turbulent system (to the best of our knowledge). If efficiently applied, this algorithm will allow study of the turbulent transport dynamics on transport time scales - something that has heretofore been very difficult. In this work, the results of applying the Parareal Algorithm to simulations of drift wave turbulence in slab geometry in which the relative dominance of the polarization and E x B nonlinearities are tuned artificially, are presented. These turbulent systems are in many ways similar to neutral fluid turbulence models, so success of the Parareal scheme in them expands the prospect of a broader range of application to many other turbulent problems. This thesis also presents the results of a modification to the algorithm. A model to study and predict the parameters governing the convergence of the scheme is also explored

EUROfusion Integrated Modelling (EU-IM) capabilities and selected physics applications

International audienceRecent developments and achievements of the EUROfusion Code Development for Integrated Modelling project (WPCD), which aim is to provide a validated integrated modelling suite for the simulation and prediction of complete plasma discharges in any tokamak, are presented. WPCD develops generic complex integrated simulations, workflows, for physics applications, using the standardized European Integrated Modelling (EU-IM) framework. Selected physics applications of EU-IM workflows are illustrated in this paper

Exploring options for the coarse solver in the parareal algorithm for non linear problems in fusion plasma

Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor affiliation: Culham Centre for Fusion EnergyOthe

Hubble Space Telescope search for M subdwarf binaries

We present HSTACS observations of 19 nearby M subdwarfs in a search for binary systems. Other than the wide common proper-motion pair LHS 2140/2139, none of our sdM and esdM targets are found to be binaries. Our survey is sensitive to equal-luminosity companions at close (2-8 AU) separations, while substellar secondaries could have been detected at separations in the range of 6-30 AU. To check for wide binaries, we have compared the POSS I and II images in a field of view as large as 10' x 10', but could not detect a single comoving star for any of the targets. Combining our results with those from Gizis & Reid, we have a binary fraction of 3% (1/28). Detection of a small number of M subdwarf binaries reported in the literature suggests a higher fraction than the one obtained here, probably comparable to that found for the more massive solar-type stars in the halo (13%-15%). Comparison with the disk M dwarf fraction (similar to 25%), however, suggests multiplicity to be rare among the lowest mass halo stars, implying the two populations formed under different initial conditions. The low binary fraction in our survey could be explained by selection biases. A decrease in multiplicity has been observed in the disk for masses below 0.1 M-circle dot, the peak in the disk mass function (MF). The globular cluster MF is found to peak at about 0.33 M-circle dot, with a decrease in the number of stars per unit mass below the peak mass. Our sample being composed of stars with masses between similar to 0.2 and 0.085 M-circle dot suggests that a decrease in multiplicity similar to the disk may also be true for the halo stars, but perhaps below a mass of similar to 0.3 M-circle dot. A higher M subdwarf binary fraction may be obtained if the selected primaries have masses near or higher than the peak in the MF.Peer reviewe

EUROfusion Integrated Modelling (EU-IM) capabilities and selected physics applications

International audienceRecent developments and achievements of the EUROfusion Code Development for Integrated Modelling project (WPCD), which aim is to provide a validated integrated modelling suite for the simulation and prediction of complete plasma discharges in any tokamak, are presented. WPCD develops generic complex integrated simulations, workflows, for physics applications, using the standardized European Integrated Modelling (EU-IM) framework. Selected physics applications of EU-IM workflows are illustrated in this paper