Toroidal effects on drift wave turbulence

Technical Report · Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 EDT 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6970900· OSTI ID:6970900

LeBrun, M J; Tajima, T; Gray, M G; Furnish, G; Horton, W

The universal drift instability and other drift instabilities driven by density and temperature gradients in a toroidal system are investigated in both linear and nonlinear regimes via particle simulation. Runs in toroidal and cylindrical geometry show dramatic differences in plasma behavior, primarily due to the toroidicity-induced coupling of rational surfaces through the poloidal mode number m. In the toroidal system studied, the eigenmodes are seen to possess (i) an elongated, nearly global radial extent (ii) a higher growth rate than in the corresponding cylindrical system, (iii) an eigenfrequency nearly constant with radius, (iv) a global temperature relaxation and enhancement of thermal heat conduction. Most importantly, the measured Xi shows an increase with radius and an absolute value on the order of that observed in experiment. On the basis of our observations, we argue that the increase in Xi with radius observed in experiment is caused by the global nature of heat convection in the presence of toroidicity-induced mode coupling.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Institute for Fusion Studies
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF); JIFT; STAJA; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); JIFT Program; Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo (Japan)
• DOE Contract Number: FG05-80ET53088
• OSTI ID: 6970900
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/53088-563; IFSR-563; ON: DE93000498
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
TOKAMAK DEVICES
DRIFT INSTABILITY
HEAT TRANSFER
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA SIMULATION
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
TURBULENCE
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
ENERGY TRANSFER
INSTABILITY
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
SIMULATION
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
700340* - Plasma Waves
Oscillations
& Instabilities- (1992-)
700300 - Plasma Physics & Fusion Research- (1992-)