Title: Full-wave simulations of ICRF heating regimes in toroidal plasma with non-Maxwellian distribution functions

Abstract

At the power levels required for significant heating and current drive in magnetically-confined toroidal plasma, modification of the particle distribution function from a Maxwellian shape is likely (Stix 1975 Nucl. Fusion 15 737), with consequent changes in wave propagation and in the location and amount of absorption. In order to study these effects computationally, both the finite-Larmor-radius and the high-harmonic fast wave (HHFW), versions of the full-wave, hot-plasma toroidal simulation code TORIC (Brambilla 1999 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 41 1 and Brambilla 2002 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44 2423), have been extended to allow the prescription of arbitrary velocity distributions of the form f(v(parallel to), v(perpendicular to) , psi, theta). For hydrogen (H) minority heating of a deuterium (D) plasma with anisotropic Maxwellian H distributions, the fractional H absorption varies significantly with changes in parallel temperature but is essentially independent of perpendicular temperature. On the other hand, for HHFW regime with anisotropic Maxwellian fast ion distribution, the fractional beam ion absorption varies mainly with changes in the perpendicular temperature. The evaluation of the wave-field and power absorption, through the full wave solver, with the ion distribution function provided by either a Monte-Carlo particle and Fokker-Planck codes is also examined formore » Alcator C-Mod and NSTX plasmas. Non-Maxwellian effects generally tend to increase the absorption with respect to the equivalent Maxwellian distribution.« less

Authors:

Bertelli, N. ^[1]; Valeo, E. J. ^[1]; Green, D. L. ^[2]; Gorelenkova, M. ^[1]; Phillips, C. K. ^[1]; Podestà, M.  ^[1];

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Lee, J. P. ^[3]; Wright, J. C. ^[3]; Jaeger, E. F. ^[4]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Plasma Science and Fusion Center
4. XCEL Engineering Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Publication Date:

Mon Apr 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017

Research Org.:

Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)

OSTI Identifier:

1353395

Grant/Contract Number:  

FC02-01ER54648; AC02-CH0911466

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Nuclear Fusion

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 57; Journal Issue: 5; Related Information: The digital data for this paper can be found following the links from http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01g445cg642; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5515

Publisher:

IOP Science

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Tokamak; ICRH; Waves; Plasma; HHFW; Minority heating; Tokamak plasmas; Absorption; Equations; Geometry; Nstx