A finite element Poisson solver for gyrokinetic particle simulations in a global field aligned mesh

Journal Article · Sat May 20 04:00:00 EDT 2006 · Journal of Computational Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2005.10.011· OSTI ID:20767047

Nishimura, Y ^[1]; Lin, Z ^[1]; Lewandowski, J L.V. ^[2]; Ethier, S ^[2]

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1. Physics and Astronomy, University of California, FRH 4129, Irvine, CA 92697-4575 (United States)
2. Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08543 (United States)

A new finite element Poisson solver is developed and applied to a global gyrokinetic toroidal code (GTC) which employs the field aligned mesh and thus a logically non-rectangular grid in a general geometry. Employing test cases where the analytical solutions are known, the finite element solver has been verified. The CPU time scaling versus the matrix size employing portable, extensible toolkit for scientific computation (PETSc) to solve the sparse matrix is promising. Taking the ion temperature gradient modes (ITG) as an example, the solution from the new finite element solver has been compared to the solution from the original GTC's iterative solver which is only efficient for adiabatic electrons. Linear and nonlinear simulation results from the two different forms of the gyrokinetic Poisson equation (integral form and the differential form) coincide each other. The new finite element solver enables the implementation of advanced kinetic electron models for global electromagnetic simulations.

• OSTI ID: 20767047
• Journal Information: Journal of Computational Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Computational Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 214; ISSN JCTPAH; ISSN 0021-9991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
ELECTRONS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
GEOMETRY
IMPLEMENTATION
INTEGRALS
ION TEMPERATURE
ITERATIVE METHODS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
POISSON EQUATION
SIMULATION
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
TURBULENCE