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Ji, Jeong-Young

Publications and source records attributed to Ji, Jeong-Young.

Final Report for Center for Tokamak Transient Simulations at USU

Providing plasma fluid codes like NIMROD with continuum drift kinetic (CDK) physics that is quantitatively valid and computationally feasible throughout the spatial domain is difficult. Work at Utah State University (USU), in collaboration with the Center for Tokamak Transient Simulations (CTTS), focused on applying CDK closures in disruption-related calculations. Three examples where kinetic physics is paramount are (1) the electron stress tensor closure in Ohms law for accurately describing neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) evolution, (2) runaway electron (RE) density (nRE) and current (jRE) moments in NIMROD’s extended MHD model for self-consistent evolution of RE populations during disruptions and, (3) energetic ion effects on a myriad of MHD instabilities. While NTM simulations and continuum and PIC approaches to energetic ions in NIMROD have been a major goals of USU’s closure work for several years, the development of self-consistent CDK RE capability in NIMROD was started and extended considerably during the CTTS effort. Some goals of CDK RE in NIMROD are to explore the effects of the 2D relativistic phase space in 4D simulations and compare with NIMROD’s fluid RE model. Four publications and two PhD theses came out of the USU CTTS effort.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Advanced Closures for Nonlinear Fluid Simulations of Plasmas (Final Report)

Advanced Closures for Nonlinear Fluid Simulations of Plasmas E. Held, Utah State University (Principal Investigator) J.-Y. Ji, Utah State University (Co-Investigator) Utah State University (USU) continued to develop and apply closures for hybrid fluid/kinetic simulations of magnetized fusion plasmas. The closures developed by USU's fusion theory and computation group use the drift ordering and are referred to as "continuum" and "general moment" approaches. They differ in their representation for the distribution functions which probabilistically describe the density of particles in 5 dimensional phase space. The two chosen velocity variables, needed in studies of kinetic physics for magnetized plasmas, are the speed and the component of a particle's velocity along the magnetic field. In magnetized plasmas, the charged particle trajectories are tied closely to the magnetic field lines. Both approaches account for binary interactions between particles using the Coulomb collision operator. Theoretical and computational development along both lines provided avenues for verification between the two approaches. This funding allowed USU to further develop physically accurate and numerically efficient models that advance our understanding of kinetic physics in experiments like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The ITER device will likely prove the physical practicality of thermonuclear fusion by producing 500 megawatts of clean, abundant fusion power. This work helped to realize this goal by advancing our simulation capability using hybrid fluid/kinetic models.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Supervised machine learning-based multivariate regression of parallel closures for a high-collisionality deuterium-carbon plasma

Many plasmas of interest in laboratory experiments and space consist of multiple ion species. In tokamak edge plasmas, for instance, ionized impurities expelled from the vessel wall influence plasma transport. When describing multi-species plasmas using fluid equations, we need accurate closure relations to close the set of fluid equations. In this study, we introduce the development of fitting formulas for parallel closures using supervised machine learning, in conjunction with the recent closure theory, considering multi-ion collisions and arbitrary ion temperatures. We apply this approach to a high-collisionality deuterium-carbon plasma and demonstrate its effectiveness. As a result, the machine learning-based method for developing practical and accurate closures can be extended to a wider range of plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Closure theory for high-collisionality multi-ion plasmas

A general formalism is developed to construct and solve a system of linearized moment equations for parallel and perpendicular closures in high-collisionality plasmas. It is applicable for multiple ion species with arbitrary masses, temperatures, charges, and densities. The convergence of closure coefficients is evaluated by increasing the number of moments from 2 to 32 for scalar, vector, and rank-2 tensor moments. As an example, the complete set of closure coefficients for a deuterium-carbon plasma over the entire Hall parameter range is presented. Furthermore, the closure coefficients at various temperature ratios show that the one-temperature closure coefficients can differ significantly from the two-temperature coefficients.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗