Kinetic calculation of neoclassical transport including self-consistent electron and impurity dynamics
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a first-principles based calculation of the neoclassical transport coefficients directly from solution of the distribution function by solving a hierarchy of equations derived by expanding the DKE in powers of ρ*i, the ratio of the ion gyroradius to system size.
Abstract: Numerical studies of neoclassical transport, beginning with the fundamental drift-kinetic equation (DKE), have been extended to include the self-consistent coupling of electrons and multiple ion species. The code, NEO, provides a first-principles based calculation of the neoclassical transport coefficients directly from solution of the distribution function by solving a hierarchy of equations derived by expanding the DKE in powers of ρ*i, the ratio of the ion gyroradius to system size. This includes the calculation of the first-order electrostatic potential via the Poisson equation, although this potential has exactly no effect on the steady-state transport. Systematic calculations of the second-order particle and energy fluxes and first-order plasma flows and bootstrap current and comparisons with existing theories are given for multi-species plasmas. The ambipolar relation ∑azaΓa = 0, which can only be maintained with complete cross-species collisional coupling, is confirmed, and finite mass-ratio corrections due to the collisional coupling are identified. The effects of plasma shaping are also explored, including a discussion of how analytic formulae obtained for circular plasmas (i.e. Chang–Hinton) should be applied to shaped cases. Finite-orbit-width effects are studied via solution of the higher-order DKEs and the implications of non-local transport on the validity of the δf formulation are discussed.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a second relation between the pedestal width in normalized poloidal flux and pedestal height (Δ=0.076βθ,ped1/2), using an argument based upon kinetic ballooning mode turbulence and observation.
Abstract: The pressure at the top of the edge transport barrier (or “pedestal height”) strongly impacts tokamak fusion performance. Predicting the pedestal height in future devices such as ITER [ITER Physics Basis Editors, Nucl. Fusion 39, 2137 (1999)] remains an important challenge. While uncertainties remain, magnetohydrodynamic stability calculations at intermediate wavelength (the “peeling-ballooning” model), accounting for diamagnetic stabilization, have been largely successful in determining the observed maximum pedestal height, when the edge barrier width is taken as an input. Here, we develop a second relation between the pedestal width in normalized poloidal flux (Δ) and pedestal height (Δ=0.076βθ,ped1/2), using an argument based upon kinetic ballooning mode turbulence and observation. Combining this relation with direct calculations of peeling-ballooning stability yields two constraints, which together determine both the height and width of the pedestal. The resulting model, EPED1, allows quantitative prediction of the pedestal height and width in both existing and future experiments. EPED1 is successfully tested both against a dedicated experiment on the DIII-D [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] tokamak, in which predictions were made before the experiment, and against a broader DIII-D data set, including ITER demonstration discharges. EPED1 is found to quantitatively capture the observed complex dependencies of the pedestal height and width. An initial set of pedestal predictions for the ITER device is presented.
305 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that when the gradient in the H-mode transport barrier grows to exceed the MHD stability limit, the ELM instability grows explosively, rapidly transporting energy and particles onto open field lines and material surfaces.
Abstract: Edge-localized-modes (ELMs) are a ubiquitous feature of H-mode in tokamaks. When gradients in the H-mode transport barrier grow to exceed the MHD stability limit the ELM instability grows explosively, rapidly transporting energy and particles onto open field lines and material surfaces. Though ELMs provide additional particle and impurity transport through the H-mode transport barrier, enabling steady operation, the resulting heat flux transients to plasma facing surfaces project to large amplitude in future low collisionality burning plasma tokamaks. Measurements of the ELM heat flux deposition onto material surfaces in the divertor and main chamber indicate significant broadening compared to inter-ELM heat flux, with a timescale for energy deposition that is consistent with sonic ion flow and numerical simulation. Comprehensive ELM simulation is highlighting the important physics processes of ELM transport including parallel transport due to magnetic reconnection and turbulence resulting from collapse of the H-mode transport barrier. Encouraging prospects for ELM control and/or suppression in future tokamaks include intrinsic modes of ELM free operation, ELM triggering with frequent small pellet injection and the application of 3D magnetic fields.
235 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a multi-dimensional code suite with physics-based models, self-consistent steady-state and hybrid mode scenarios for CFETR have been developed under a high magnetic field up to 6.5 T. Subsequently the engineering design of CFETr including the magnet system, vacuum system, tritium breeding blanket, divertor, remote handling and maintenance system.
Abstract: The Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor (CFETR), complementing the ITER facility, is aiming to demonstrate fusion energy production up to 200 MW initially and to eventually reach DEMO relevant power level 1 GW, to manifest a high duty factor of 0.3–0.5, and to pursue tritium self-sufficiency with tritium breeding ratio (TBR) >1. The key challenge to meet the missions of the CFETR is to run the machine in steady state (or long pulse) and high duty factor. By using a multi-dimensional code suite with physics-based models, self-consistent steady-state and hybrid mode scenarios for CFETR have been developed under a high magnetic field up to 6.5 T. The negative-ion neutral beam injection together with high frequency electron cyclotron wave and lower hybrid wave (and/or fast wave) are proposed to be used to drive the current. Subsequently the engineering design of CFETR including the magnet system, vacuum system, tritium breeding blanket, divertor, remote handling and maintenance system will be introduced. Some research and development (R&D) activities are also introduced in this paper.
225 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a steady-state iteration scheme was proposed for direct gyrokinetic and neoclassical simulations. But the method is not suitable for high computational cost, such as the evaluation of thousands of individual transport fluxes (local transport models calculate the energy and particle fluxes across a specified flux surface).
Abstract: Tokamak transport modeling scenarios, including ITER [ITER Physics Basis Editors, Nucl. Fusion 39, 2137 (1999)] performance predictions, are based exclusively on reduced models for core thermal and particle transport. The reason for this is simple: computational cost. A typical modeling scenario may require the evaluation of thousands of individual transport fluxes (local transport models calculate the energy and particle fluxes across a specified flux surface given fixed profiles). Despite continuous advances in direct gyrokinetic simulation, the cost of an individual simulation remains so high that direct gyrokinetic transport calculations have been avoided. By developing a steady-state iteration scheme suitable for direct gyrokinetic and neoclassical simulations, we can now compute steady-state temperature profiles for DIII-D [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] plasmas given known plasma sources. The new code, TGYRO, encapsulates the GYRO [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J. Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] code, for turbulent transport, and the NEO [E. A. Belli and J. Candy, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 50, 095010 (2008)] code, for kinetic neoclassical transport. Results for DIII-D L-mode discharge 128913 are given, with computational and experimental results consistent in the region 0≤r/a≤0.8.
193 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a fast numerical algorithm for treatment of the field particle operator was developed for the case of multi-species plasmas, where a Legendre series expansion in ξ (the cosine of the pitch angle) was combined with a novel Laguerre spectral method in energy to ameliorate the rapid numerical precision loss.
Abstract: The complete linearized Fokker–Planck collision operator has been implemented in the drift-kinetic code NEO (Belli and Candy 2008 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 50 095010) for the calculation of neoclassical transport coefficients and flows. A key aspect of this work is the development of a fast numerical algorithm for treatment of the field particle operator. This Eulerian algorithm can accurately treat the disparate velocity scales that arise in the case of multi-species plasmas. Specifically, a Legendre series expansion in ξ (the cosine of the pitch angle) is combined with a novel Laguerre spectral method in energy to ameliorate the rapid numerical precision loss that occurs for traditional Laguerre spectral methods. We demonstrate the superiority of this approach to alternative spectral and finite-element schemes. The physical accuracy and limitations of more commonly used model collision operators, such as the Connor and Hirshman–Sigmar operators, are studied, and the effects on neoclassical impurity poloidal flows and neoclassical transport for experimental parameters are explored.
168 citations
References
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TL;DR: A review of magnetized-plasma transport theory can be found in this paper, with a focus on the application to axisymmetric tokamak-type confinement systems.
Abstract: The dissipation induced by coulomb-collisional scattering provides an irreducible minimum, and thus a useful standard for comparison, for transport processes in a hot, magnetically confined plasma. The kinetic description of this dissipation is provided by an equation of the Fokker-Planck form. As in the standard transport theory for a neutral gas, approximate solution of the Fokker-Planck equation permits the calculation of transport coefficients, which linearly relate the fluxes of particles, energy, and electric charge, to the density and temperature gradients, and to the electric field. The transport relations are useful in studying the confinement properties of present and future experimental devices for research in controlled thermonuclear fusion. The transport theory for a magnetized plasma (in which the Larmor radius is much smaller than gradient scale lengths describing the plasma fluid) departs from the theory for a neutral gas in several fundamental ways. Thus, transport coefficients for a magnetized plasma can be calculated even when the collisional mean free path is much longer than the gradient scale length (as would pertain in thermonuclear regimes). Such transport coefficients are generally nonlocal, being defined in terms of averages over surfaces with macroscopic dimensions. Furthermore, when the mean free path is long, the magnetized-plasma transport coefficients depend crucially upon the magnetic field geometry, the effects of which must be treated at the kinetic level of the Fokker-Planck equation. The results display several novel couplings between collisional dissipation and the electromagnetic field. The present review of magnetized-plasma transport theory is intended to be as widely accessible as possible. Thus the relevant features of magnetic confinement in closed (toroidal) systems, and of charged particles in spatially varying fields, are derived, at least in outline, from first principles. Although consideration is given to "classical" transport in which most field geometric effects are omitted, major emphasis is placed on the "neoclassical" theory which has been developed over the last decade. Neoclassical transport coefficients are specifically relevant to a magnetically confined plasma, rather than to just a magnetized plasma; their unusual features, such as nonlocality and geometry dependence, become particularly important in the high temperature regime of proposed thermonuclear reactors. The area of neoclassical theory which seems most complete---its application to axisymmetric tokamak-type confinement systems---is correspondingly stressed.
1,530 citations
TL;DR: The ExB shear stabilization model was originally developed to explain the transport barrier formed at the plasma edge in tokamaks after the L (low) to H (high) transition as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: One of the scientific success stories of fusion research over the past decade is the development of the ExB shear stabilization model to explain the formation of transport barriers in magnetic confinement devices. This model was originally developed to explain the transport barrier formed at the plasma edge in tokamaks after the L (low) to H (high) transition. This concept has the universality needed to explain the edge transport barriers seen in limiter and divertor tokamaks, stellarators, and mirror machines. More recently, this model has been applied to explain the further confinement improvement from H (high)-mode to VH (very high)-mode seen in some tokamaks, where the edge transport barrier becomes wider. Most recently, this paradigm has been applied to the core transport barriers formed in plasmas with negative or low magnetic shear in the plasma core. These examples of confinement improvement are of considerable physical interest; it is not often that a system self-organizes to a higher energy state with reduced turbulence and transport when an additional source of free energy is applied to it. The transport decrease that is associated with ExB velocity shear effects also has significant practical consequences for fusion research. The fundamental physics involved in transport reduction is the effect of ExB shear on the growth, radial extent and phase correlation of turbulent eddies in the plasma. The same fundamental transport reduction process can be operational in various portions of the plasma because there are a number ways to change the radial electric field Er. An important theme in this area is the synergistic effect of ExB velocity shear and magnetic shear. Although the ExB velocity shear appears to have an effect on broader classes of microturbulence, magnetic shear can mitigate some potentially harmful effects of ExB velocity shear and facilitate turbulence stabilization.
1,251 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a closed set of moment equations is presented for the time evolution of thermodynamic and magnetic field quantities which results from collisional transport of the plasma and two-dimensional motion of the magnetic flux surface geometry.
Abstract: Tokamak plasmas are inherently comprised of multiple ion species. This is due to wall-bred impurities and, in future reactors, will result from fusion-born alpha particles. Relatively small densities nI, of highly charged non-hydrogenic impurities can strongly influence plasma transport properties whenever . The determination of the complete neoclassical Onsager matrix for a toroidally confined multispecies plasma, which provides the linear relation between the surface averaged radial fluxes and the thermodynamic forces (i.e. gradients of density and temperature, and the parallel electric field), is reviewed. A closed set of one-dimensional moment equations is presented for the time evolution of thermodynamic and magnetic field quantities which results from collisional transport of the plasma and two-dimensional motion of the magnetic flux surface geometry. The effects of neutral-beam injection on the equilibrium and transport properties of a toroidal plasma are consistently included.
1,081 citations
TL;DR: The contribution of the Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function for gases, due to particle-particle interactions in which the fundamental two-body force obeys an inverse square law, is investigated in this paper.
Abstract: The contribution to the Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function for gases, due to particle-particle interactions in which the fundamental two-body force obeys an inverse square law, is investigated. The coefficients in the equation, $〈\ensuremath{\Delta}\mathrm{v}〉$ (the average change in velocity in a short time) and $〈\ensuremath{\Delta}\mathrm{v}\ensuremath{\Delta}\mathrm{v}〉$, are obtained in terms of two fundamental integrals which are dependent on the distribution function itself. The transformation of the equation to polar coordinates in a case of axial symmetry is carried out. By expanding the distribution function in Legendre functions of the angle, the equation is cast into the form of an infinite set of one-dimensional coupled nonlinear integro-differential equations. If the distribution function is approximated by a finite series, the resultant Fokker-Planck equations may be treated numerically using a computing machine. Keeping only one or two terms in the series corresponds to the approximations of Chandrasekhar, and Cohen, Spitzer and McRoutly, respectively.
1,011 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a code solving the Fokker-planck equation with the full collision operator and including the variation along the magnetic field line, coupled with the adjoint function formalism, has been used to calculate these coefficients in arbitrary equilibrium and collisionality regimes.
Abstract: Expressions for the neoclassical resistivity and the bootstrap current coefficients in terms of aspect ratio and collisionality are widely used in simulating toroidal axisymmetric equilibria and transport evolution. The formulas used are in most cases based on works done 15–20 years ago, where the results have been obtained for large aspect ratio, small or very large collisionality, or with a reduced collision operator. The best expressions to date and to our knowledge are due to Hirshman [S. P. Hirshman, Phys. Fluids 31, 3150 (1988)] for arbitrary aspect ratio in the banana regime and Hinton–Hazeltine [F. L. Hinton and R. D. Hazeltine, Rev. Mod. Phys. 48, 239 (1976)] for large aspect ratio and arbitrary collisionality regime. A code solving the Fokker–Planck equation with the full collision operator and including the variation along the magnetic field line, coupled with the adjoint function formalism, has been used to calculate these coefficients in arbitrary equilibrium and collisionality regimes. The coefficients have been obtained for a wide variety of plasma and equilibrium parameters and a comprehensive set of formulas, which have been fitted to the code results within 5%, is proposed for evaluating the neoclassical conductivity and the bootstrap current coefficients. This extends previous works and also highlights inaccuracies in the previous formulas in this wide plasma parameter space.
763 citations