Synergistic cross-scale coupling of turbulence in a tokamak plasma
Abstract
For the first time, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations spanning both the ion and electron spatio-temporal scales have been performed with realistic electron mass ratio ((mD/me)1/2 = 60.0), realistic geometry, and all experimental inputs, demonstrating the coexistence and synergy of ion ( ) and electron-scale ( ) turbulence in the core of a tokamak plasma. All multi-scale simulations utilized the GYRO code [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J. Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] to study the coupling of ion and electron-scale turbulence in the core (r/a = 0.6) of an Alcator C-Mod L-mode discharge shown previously to exhibit an under-prediction of the electron heat flux when using simulations only including ion-scale turbulence. Electron-scale turbulence is found to play a dominant role in setting the electron heat flux level and radially elongated (kr ≪ kθ) “streamers” are found to coexist with ion-scale eddies in experimental plasma conditions. Inclusion of electron-scale turbulence in these simulations is found to increase both ion and electron heat flux levels by enhancing the transport at the ion-scale while also driving electron heat flux at sub-ρi scales. The combined increases in the low and high-k driven electron heat flux may explain previously observed discrepancies between simulated and experimental electron heat fluxes and indicates a complex interaction of short and long wavelength turbulence.
- Authors:
-
- Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Plasma Science and Fusion Center
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1546776
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1224317
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FC02-99ER54512; AC02-05CH11231; FC02-99ER54512-CMOD
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Plasmas
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 21; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Citation Formats
Howard, N. T., Holland, C., White, A. E., Greenwald, M., and Candy, J. Synergistic cross-scale coupling of turbulence in a tokamak plasma. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.4902366.
Howard, N. T., Holland, C., White, A. E., Greenwald, M., & Candy, J. Synergistic cross-scale coupling of turbulence in a tokamak plasma. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902366
Howard, N. T., Holland, C., White, A. E., Greenwald, M., and Candy, J. 2014.
"Synergistic cross-scale coupling of turbulence in a tokamak plasma". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902366. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1546776.
@article{osti_1546776,
title = {Synergistic cross-scale coupling of turbulence in a tokamak plasma},
author = {Howard, N. T. and Holland, C. and White, A. E. and Greenwald, M. and Candy, J.},
abstractNote = {For the first time, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations spanning both the ion and electron spatio-temporal scales have been performed with realistic electron mass ratio ((mD/me)1/2 = 60.0), realistic geometry, and all experimental inputs, demonstrating the coexistence and synergy of ion ( ( k θ ρ s ∼ O ( 1.0 ) ) ) and electron-scale ( ( k θ ρ e ∼ O ( 1.0 ) ) ) turbulence in the core of a tokamak plasma. All multi-scale simulations utilized the GYRO code [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J. Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] to study the coupling of ion and electron-scale turbulence in the core (r/a = 0.6) of an Alcator C-Mod L-mode discharge shown previously to exhibit an under-prediction of the electron heat flux when using simulations only including ion-scale turbulence. Electron-scale turbulence is found to play a dominant role in setting the electron heat flux level and radially elongated (kr ≪ kθ) “streamers” are found to coexist with ion-scale eddies in experimental plasma conditions. Inclusion of electron-scale turbulence in these simulations is found to increase both ion and electron heat flux levels by enhancing the transport at the ion-scale while also driving electron heat flux at sub-ρi scales. The combined increases in the low and high-k driven electron heat flux may explain previously observed discrepancies between simulated and experimental electron heat fluxes and indicates a complex interaction of short and long wavelength turbulence.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4902366},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1546776},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
issn = {1070-664X},
number = 11,
volume = 21,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 24 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Mon Nov 24 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}
Web of Science
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