Comparison of bifurcation dynamics of turbulent transport models for the L-H transition
- FOM Institute DIFFER—Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, Association EURATOM-FOM, PO Box 1207, Nieuwegein (Netherlands)
- Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 503, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
In more than three decades, a large amount of models and mechanisms have been proposed to describe a very beneficial feature of magnetically confined fusion plasmas: the L-H transition. Bifurcation theory can be used to compare these different models based on their dynamical transition structure. In this paper, we employ bifurcation theory to distinguish two fundamentally different descriptions of the interaction between turbulence levels and sheared flows. The analytic bifurcation analysis characterises the parameter space structure of the transition dynamics. Herewith, in these models three dynamically different types of transitions are characterised, sharp transitions, oscillatory transitions, and smooth transitions. One of the two models has a very robust transition structure and is therefore likely to be more accurate for such a robust phenomenon as the L-H transition. The other model needs more fine-tuning to get non-oscillatory transitions. These conclusions from the analytic bifurcation analysis are confirmed by dedicated numerical simulations, with the newly developed code Bifurcator.
- OSTI ID:
- 22252948
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2014 EURATOM; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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