PIC simulations of microturbulence in the presence of a magnetic island

Journal Article · Thu Nov 30 00:00:00 EST 2006 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2404577· OSTI ID:20895152

Poli, E; Bottino, A; Peeters, A G ^[1]; Sauter, O ^[2]

---

1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, Garching (Germany)
2. CRPP, EURATOM-Confederation Suisse, EPFL, Lausanne (Switzerland)

In tokamak experiments, magnetic islands destroy the axial symmetry of the plasma through a helical magnetic-field perturbation. In the reconnected region the confinement is rather poor, due to the fast parallel transport along the field lines. The behaviour of the plasma turbulence in such a situation needs to be investigated, since it has a significant impact on both the transport in the island region and the stability of the island itself.A first attempt to study this rather rich area is presented in this paper. A (static) island structure is included in the particle-in-cell (PIC) global nonlinear gyrokinetic code ORB5. The perturbed magnetic field due to the island changes the orbits of the ions and influences the structure of the fluctuating potential. The equations of motion and the equation for the distribution-function perturbation are modified accordingly. The first simulations of the perturbed electric potential, heat flux and mode spectrum due to ITG turbulence (without zonal flows) are presented.

• OSTI ID: 20895152
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 871, Issue 1; Conference: Joint Varenna-Lausanne international workshop on theory of fusion plasmas, Varenna (Italy), 28 Aug - 1 Sep 2006; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2404577; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AXIAL SYMMETRY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
HEAT FLUX
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
O CODES
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA SIMULATION
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TURBULENCE