Analysis of plasma instabilities and verification of the BOUT code for the Large Plasma Device

Journal Article · Fri Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3500283· OSTI ID:21421233

Popovich, P; Carter, T A; Friedman, B ^[1]; Umansky, M V ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Multiscale Plasma Dynamics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547 (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

The properties of linear instabilities in the Large Plasma Device [W. Gekelman et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2875 (1991)] are studied both through analytic calculations and solving numerically a system of linearized collisional plasma fluid equations using the three-dimensional fluid code BOUT[M. Umansky et al., Contrib. Plasma Phys. 180, 887 (2009)], which has been successfully modified to treat cylindrical geometry. Instability drive from plasma pressure gradients and flows is considered, focusing on resistive drift waves and the Kelvin-Helmholtz and rotational interchange instabilities. A general linear dispersion relation for partially ionized collisional plasmas including these modes is derived and analyzed. For Large Plasma Device relevant profiles including strongly driven flows, it is found that all three modes can have comparable growth rates and frequencies. Detailed comparison with solutions of the analytic dispersion relation demonstrates that BOUT accurately reproduces all characteristics of linear modes in this system.

• OSTI ID: 21421233
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3500283; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
DISPERSION RELATIONS
DRIFT INSTABILITY
FLUTE INSTABILITY
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA PRESSURE
PLASMA SIMULATION
VERIFICATION
WAVE PROPAGATION
INSTABILITY
MATHEMATICS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
SIMULATION