Zonal flow generation and its feedback on turbulence production in drift wave turbulence

Journal Article · Mon Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4802187· OSTI ID:22130437

Pushkarev, Andrey V.; Bos, Wouter J. T. ^[1]; Nazarenko, Sergey V. ^[2]

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1. LMFA, CNRS, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, Universite de Lyon, Ecully (France)
2. Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

Plasma turbulence described by the Hasegawa-Wakatani equations is simulated numerically for different models and values of the adiabaticity parameter C. It is found that for low values of C turbulence remains isotropic, zonal flows are not generated and there is no suppression of the meridional drift waves and particle transport. For high values of C, turbulence evolves towards highly anisotropic states with a dominant contribution of the zonal sector to the kinetic energy. This anisotropic flow leads to a decrease of turbulence production in the meridional sector and limits the particle transport across the mean isopycnal surfaces. This behavior allows to consider the Hasegawa-Wakatani equations a minimal PDE model, which contains the drift-wave/zonal-flow feedback loop mechanism.

• OSTI ID: 22130437
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 20; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ANISOTROPY
FEEDBACK
KINETIC ENERGY
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA SIMULATION
TRANSPORT THEORY
TURBULENCE
WAVE PROPAGATION