Plasma wave simulation based on a versatile finite element method solver

Journal Article · Sat May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3396371· OSTI ID:21371204

Shiraiwa, S; Meneghini, O; Parker, R; Bonoli, P; Garrett, M; Wright, J C; Wukitch, S ^[1]; Kaufman, M C ^[2]

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1. Plasma Science Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)

The possibility of plasma wave simulation based on the finite element method (FEM) was explored, and a new full wave simulation code of the lower hybrid (LH) wave, Lower Hybrid wavE Analysis based on FEM (LHEAF), was developed. The efficient iterative solver for the LH wave [O. Meneghini, S. Shiraiwa, and R. Parker, Phys. Plasmas 16, 090701 (2009)] was coupled to one-dimensional Fokker-Planck calculation to obtain the self-consistent distribution function. In LHEAF, seamless handling of the core, scrape off layer, and antenna regions were realized and the wave launching structure were naturally included into the simulation. Simulation results of a Maxwellian tokamak plasma showed good agreement with ray tracing calculations and the TORIC-LH spectral solver [J. C. Wright, P. T. Bonoli, A. E. Schmidt et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 072502 (2009)]. Compared to spectral domain solvers, the computational requirements are reduced significantly, allowing an Alcator C [M. Porkolab, J. J. Schuss, B. Lloyd et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 450 (1984)] scale plasma simulation on a desktop computer. Also, the LH full wave simulation of an ITER scale plasma was demonstrated for the first time with moderate increase in the problem size. In addition, the flexibility of the FEM approach has been exploited to address issues of antenna-plasma coupling in the LH and ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF). Techniques using the FEM package for this purpose were validated on the traditional grill antenna and have been applied to the interdigital-line antenna of LH wave. Application to the near field analysis of the new Alcator C-Mod [I. H. Hutchinson, R. Boivin, F. Bombarda et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 1511 (1994)] ICRF antenna is in progress.

• OSTI ID: 21371204
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 17; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALCATOR DEVICE
ANTENNAS
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CALCULATION METHODS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
HEATING
HIGH-FREQUENCY HEATING
ITER TOKAMAK
LAYERS
LOWER HYBRID HEATING
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA HEATING
PLASMA SCRAPE-OFF LAYER
PLASMA SIMULATION
PLASMA WAVES
SIMULATION
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS