Engineering topics
Kritz, Arnold
Publications and source records attributed to Kritz, Arnold.
Fusion Energy Sciences Exascale Requirements Review. An Office of Science review sponsored jointly by Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Fusion Energy Sciences, January 27-29, 2016, Gaithersburg, Maryland
The additional computing power offered by the planned exascale facilities could be transformational across the spectrum of plasma and fusion research — provided that the new architectures can be efficiently applied to our problem space. The collaboration that will be required to succeed should be viewed as an opportunity to identify and exploit cross-disciplinary synergies. To assess the opportunities and requirements as part of the development of an overall strategy for computing in the exascale era, the Exascale Requirements Review meeting of the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) community was convened January 27–29, 2016, with participation from a broad range of fusion and plasma scientists, specialists in applied mathematics and computer science, and representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its major computing facilities. This report is a summary of that meeting and the preparatory activities for it and includes a wealth of detail to support the findings. Technical opportunities, requirements, and challenges are detailed in this report (and in the recent report on the Workshop on Integrated Simulation). Science applications are described, along with mathematical and computational enabling technologies. Also see http://exascaleage.org/fes/ for more information.
Simulation of Wave Interactions with Magnetohydrodynamics (SWIM) SciDAC (Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing) Project
The Center for Simulation of Wave Interactions with Magnetohydrodynamics (SWIM) was begun in 2005 with as a partnership between the DOE Office of Fusion Energy (FES) and the Office of Advanced Supercomputing Research (ASCR) to serve as a prototype for a comprehensive Fusion Simulation Project (FSP). The purpose was to begin the process of multi-physics, multi-scale coupling, at a reduced scope from a full FSP, while addressing problems of programmatic importance, and to develop approaches to large-scale code integration as required for the full FSP. The scientific objectives of SWIM were to improve our understanding of interactions that both RF wave and particle sources have on extended-MHD phenomena, to improve our capability for predicting and optimizing the performance of burning plasmas, to develop an integrated computational system for treating multi-physics phenomena with the required flexibility and extensibility to serve as a prototype for the Fusion Simulation Project, to address mathematics issues related to the multi-scale, coupled physics of RF waves and extended MHD, and to optimize the integrated system on high performance computers. The SWIM project ended in 2012 and the FSP, for which SWIM was to serve as a prototype, was not begun.
Fusion Simulation Program Execution Plan
The overall science goal of the FSP is to develop predictive simulation capability for magnetically confined fusion plasmas at an unprecedented level of integration and fidelity. This will directly support and enable effective U.S. participation in research related to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the overall mission of delivering practical fusion energy. The FSP will address a rich set of scientific issues together with experimental programs, producing validated integrated physics results. This is very well aligned with the mission of the ITER Organization to coordinate with its members the integrated modeling and control of fusion plasmas, including benchmarking and validation activities. Initial FSP research will focus on two critical areas: 1) the plasma edge and 2) whole device modeling including disruption avoidance. The first of these problems involves the narrow plasma boundary layer and its complex interactions with the plasma core and the surrounding material wall. The second requires development of a computationally tractable, but comprehensive model that describes all equilibrium and dynamic processes at a sufficient level of detail to provide useful prediction of the temporal evolution of fusion plasma experiments. The initial driver for the whole device model (WDM) will be prediction and avoidance of discharge-terminating disruptions, especially at high performance, which are a critical impediment to successful operation of machines like ITER. If disruptions prove unable to be avoided, their associated dynamics and effects will be addressed in the next phase of the FSP. The FSP plan targets the needed modeling capabilities by developing Integrated Science Applications (ISAs) specific to their needs. The Pedestal-Boundary model will include boundary magnetic topology, cross-field transport of multi-species plasmas, parallel plasma transport, neutral transport, atomic physics and interactions with the plasma wall. It will address the origins and structure of the plasma electric field, rotation, the L-H transition, and the wide variety of pedestal relaxation mechanisms. The Whole Device Model will predict the entire discharge evolution given external actuators (i.e., magnets, power supplies, heating, current drive and fueling systems) and control strategies. Based on components operating over a range of physics fidelity, the WDM will model the plasma equilibrium, plasma sources, profile evolution, linear stability and nonlinear evolution toward a disruption (but not the full disruption dynamics). The plan assumes that, as the FSP matures and demonstrates success, the program will evolve and grow, enabling additional science problems to be addressed. The next set of integration opportunities could include: 1) Simulation of disruption dynamics and their effects; 2) Prediction of core profile including 3D effects, mesoscale dynamics and integration with the edge plasma; 3) Computation of non-thermal particle distributions, self-consistent with fusion, radio frequency (RF) and neutral beam injection (NBI) sources, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and short-wavelength turbulence.