A Kinetic-fluid Model

Technical Report · Fri Jul 10 04:00:00 EDT 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/16722· OSTI ID:16722

Johnson, Jay R

A nonlinear kinetic-fluid model for high-beta plasmas with multiple ion species which can be applied to multiscale phenomena is presented. The model embeds important kinetic effects due to finite ion Larmor radius (FLR), wave-particle resonances, magnetic particle trapping, etc. in the framework of simple fluid descriptions. When further restricting to low frequency phenomena with frequencies less than the ion cyclotron frequency the kinetic-fluid model takes a simpler form in which the fluid equations of multiple ion species collapse into single-fluid density and momentum equations and a low frequency generalized Ohm's law. The kinetic effects are introduced via plasma pressure tensors for ions and electrons which are computed from particle distribution functions that are governed by the Vlasov equation or simplified plasma dynamics equations such as the gyrokinetic equation. The ion FLR effects provide a finite parallel electric field, a perpendicular velocity that modifies the ExB drift, and a gyroviscosity tensor, all of which are neglected in the usual one-fluid MHD description. Eigenmode equations are derived which include magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling effects for low frequency waves (e.g., kinetic/inertial Alfven waves and ballooning-mirror instabilities).

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, NJ 08543 (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (US)
• OSTI ID: 16722
• Report Number(s): PPPL-3303; ON: DE98057783
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
58 GEOSCIENCES
ALFVEN WAVES
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
KINETICS
LARMOR RADIUS
PLASMA
PLASMA PRESSURE
TRAPPING
VELOCITY