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Title: Discontinuous Galerkin methods for plasma physics in the scrape-off layer of tokamaks

Journal Article · · Journal of Computational Physics
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Institute for Fusion Studies (IFS), Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
  2. Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)

A new parallel discontinuous Galerkin solver, called ArcOn, is developed to describe the intermittent turbulent transport of filamentary blobs in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of fusion plasma. The model is comprised of an elliptic subsystem coupled to two convection-dominated reaction–diffusion–convection equations. Upwinding is used for a class of numerical fluxes developed to accommodate cross product driven convection, and the elliptic solver uses SIPG, NIPG, IIPG, Brezzi, and Bassi–Rebay fluxes to formulate the stiffness matrix. A novel entropy sensor is developed for this system, designed for a space–time varying artificial diffusion/viscosity regularization algorithm. Some numerical experiments are performed to show convergence order on manufactured solutions, regularization of blob/streamer dynamics in the SOL given unstable parameterizations, long-time stability of modon (or dipole drift vortex) solutions arising in simulations of drift-wave turbulence, and finally the formation of edge mode turbulence in the scrape-off layer under turbulent saturation conditions.

OSTI ID:
22382125
Journal Information:
Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 274; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9991
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English