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Register a new userTotal Fluid Pressure Imbalance in the Scrape-Off Layer of Tokamak Plasmas
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Simulations using the fully kinetic neoclassical code XGCa were undertaken to explore the impact of kinetic effects on scrape-off layer (SOL) physics in DIII-D H-mode plasmas. XGCa is a total-f, gyrokinetic code which self-consistently calculates the axisymmetric electrostatic potential and plasma dynamics, and includes modules for Monte Carlo neutral transport. Previously presented XGCa results showed several noteworthy features, including large variations of ion density and pressure along field lines in the SOL, experimentally relevant levels of SOL parallel ion flow (Mach number~0.5), skewed ion distributions near the sheath entrance leading to subsonic flow there, and elevated sheath potentials [R.M. Churchill, Nucl. Mater. & Energy, submitted]. In this paper, we explore in detail the question of pressure balance in the SOL, as it was observed in the simulation that there was a large deviation from a simple total pressure balance (the sum of ion and electron static pressure plus ion inertia). It will be shown that both the contributions from the ion viscosity (driven by ion temperature anisotropy) and neutral source terms can be substantial, and should be retained in the parallel momentum equation in the SOL, but still falls short of accounting for the observed fluid pressure imbalance in the XGCa simulation results.
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In inboard-limited plasmas, foreseen to be used in future fusion reactors start-up and ramp down phases, the Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) exhibits two regions: the near and far SOL. The steep radial gradient of the parallel heat flux associated with the near SOL can result in excessive thermal loads onto the solid surfaces, damaging them and/or limiting the operational space of a fusion reactor. In this article, leveraging the results presented in [F. Nespoli et al., Nuclear Fusion 2017], we propose a technique for the mitigation and suppression of the near SOL heat flux feature by impurity seeding. First successful experimental results from the TCV tokamak are presented and discussed.
A four-dimensional plasma model able to describe the scrape-off layer region of tokamak devices at arbitrary collisionality is derived in the drift-reduced limit. The basis of the model is provided by a drift-kinetic equation that retains the full non-linear Coulomb collision operator and describes arbitrarily far from equilibrium distribution functions. By expanding the dependence of distribution function over the perpendicular velocity in a Laguerre polynomial basis and integrating over the perpendicular velocity, a set of four-dimensional moment equations for the expansion coefficients of the distribution function is obtained. The Coulomb collision operator, as well as Poissons equation, are evaluated explicitly in terms of perpendicular velocity moments of the distribution function.
By using a non-local model, fluid simulations can capture kinetic effects in the parallel electron heat-flux better than is possible using flux limiters in the usual diffusive models. Non-local and diffusive models are compared using a test case representative of an ELM crash in the JET SOL, simulated in one dimension. The non-local model shows substantially enhanced electron temperature gradients, which cannot be achieved using a flux limiter. The performance of the implementation, in the BOUT++ framework, is also analysed to demonstrate its suitability for application in three-dimensional simulations of turbulent transport in the SOL.
Extending the ideal MHD stability code MISHKA, a new code, MISHKA-A, is developed to study the impact of pressure anisotropy on plasma stability. Based on full anisotropic equilibrium and geometry, the code can provide normal mode analysis with three fluid closure models: the single adiabatic model (SA), the double adiabatic model (CGL) and the incompressible model. A study on the plasma continuous spectrum shows that in low beta, large aspect ratio plasma, the main impact of anisotropy lies in the modification of the BAE gap and the sound frequency, if the q profile is conserved. The SA model preserves the BAE gap structure as ideal MHD, while in CGL the lowest frequency branch does not touch zero frequency at the resonant flux surface where $m+nq=0$, inducing a gap at very low frequency. Also, the BAE gap frequency with bi-Maxwellian distribution in both model becomes higher if $p_perp > p_parallel$ with a q profile dependency. As a benchmark of the code, we study the m/n=1/1 internal kink mode. Numerical calculation of the marginal stability boundary with bi-Maxwellian distribution shows a good agreement with the generalized incompressible Bussac criterion [A. B. Mikhailovskii, Sov. J. Plasma Phys 9, 190 (1983)]: the mode is stabilized(destabilized) if $p_parallel < p_perp (p_parallel > p_perp)$.
This work presents a detailed characterisation of the MAST Scrape Off Layer in L-mode. Scans in line averaged density, plasma current and toroidal magnetic field were performed. A comprehensive and integrated study of the SOL was allowed by the use of a wide range of diagnostics. In agreement with previous results, an increase of the line averaged density induced a broadening of the midplane density profile.
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