Turbulence Nonlinearities Shed Light on Geometric Asymmetry in Tokamak Confinement Transitions

A comprehensive study of fully frequency-resolved nonlinear kinetic energy transfer has been performed for the first time in a diverted tokamak, providing new insight into the parametric dependences of edge turbulence transitions. Measurements using gas puff imaging in the turbulent L-mode state illuminate the source of the long known but as yet unexplained "favorable-unfavorable" geometric asymmetry of the power threshold for transition to the turbulence-suppressed H mode. Results from the recently discovered I mode point to a competition between zonal flow (ZF) and geodesic-acoustic modes (GAM) for turbulent energy, while showing new evidence that the I-to-H transition is still dominated by ZFs. The availability of nonlinear drive for the GAM against net heat flux through the edge corresponds very well to empirical scalings found experimentally for accessing the I mode

Turbulence and jet-driven zonal flows: Secondary circulation in rotating fluids due to asymmetric forcing

We report on experiments and modeling on a rotating confined liquid that is forced by circumferential jets coaxial with the rotation axis, wherein system-scale secondary flows are observed to emerge. The jets are evenly divided in number between inlets and outlets and have zero net mass transport. For low forcing strengths the sign of this flow depends on the sign of a sloped end cap, which simulates a planetary β plane. For increased forcing strengths the secondary flow direction is insensitive to the slope sign, and instead appears to be dominated by an asymmetry in the forcing mechanism, namely, the difference in radial divergence between the inlet and outlet jet profiles. This asymmetry yields a net radial velocity that is affected by the Coriolis force, inducing secondary zonal flow