Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “PLASMA SIMULATION”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,189 records · Page 66
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Injection and transport properties of fast electrons in ultraintense laser-solid interactions

Fast electron injection and transport in solid foils irradiated by sub-picosecond-duration laser pulses with peak intensity equal to 4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 20} W/cm{sup 2} is investigated experimentally and via 3D simulations. The simulations are performed using a hybrid-particle-in-cell (PIC) code for a range of fast electron beam injection conditions, with and without inclusion of self-generated resistive magnetic fields. The resulting fast electron beam transport properties are used in rear-surface plasma expansion calculations to compare with measurements of proton acceleration, as a function of target thickness. An injection half-angle of {approx}50 Degree-Sign -70 Degree-Sign is inferred, which is significantly larger than that derived from previous experiments under similar conditions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Metal liner-driven quasi-isentropic compression of deuterium

Properties of degenerate hydrogen and deuterium (D) at pressures of the order of terapascals are of key interest to Planetary Science and Inertial Confinement Fusion. In order to recreate these conditions in the laboratory, we present a scheme, where a metal liner drives a cylindrically convergent quasi-isentropic compression in a D fill. We first determined an external pressure history for driving a self-similar implosion of a D shell from a fictitious flow simulation [D. S. Clark and M. Tabak, Nucl. Fusion 47, 1147 (2007)]. Then, it is shown that this D implosion can be recreated inside a beryllium liner by shaping the current pulse. For a peak current of 10.8 MA cold and nearly isochoric D is assembled at around 12 500 kg/m{sup 3}. Finally, our two-dimensional Gorgon simulations show the robustness of the implosion method to the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability when using a sufficiently thick liner.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Quasilinear theory and particle-in-cell simulation of proton cyclotron instability

The electromagnetic ion (proton) cyclotron instability is important for regulating the excessive development of perpendicular temperature anisotropy in the solar wind, for instance, when it is compressed in the vicinity of the Earth's magnetosheath environment. A recent letter [Seough et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 071103 (2013)] successfully employed the quasilinear kinetic theory to explain the observed temperature anisotropy upper bound. The present paper rigorously examines the reliability of the quasilinear theory by making a direct comparison against results from the particle-in-cell simulation method. It is found that the quasilinear approach is indeed a valid first-cut theoretical tool in the study of proton cyclotron instability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

BOUT++ nonlinear simulation for a comparative study with the measured 2D ELM structures in the KSTAR H-mode plasma

Here, time-dependent nonlinear simulation using the BOUT++ 3-field model is performed for a study of edge localized mode (ELM) dynamics in KSTAR H-mode plasmas. The simulated results of the ELM evolution are directly compared with the 2D ELM structures, measured by electron cyclotron emission imaging systems, from the initial growth to crash phase. The simulation results are qualitatively in good agreement with the observations. Specifically, it is notable in simulation and experiment that higher-n modes in a quasi-steady state phase evolve into lower-n modes close to the ELM-crash in time. It indicates that lower-n modes may be responsible for the onset of the crash. A postanalysis confirms that nonlinear mode coupling between toroidal harmonics may drive the lower-n mode.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Hybrid simulation of whistler excitation by electron beams in two-dimensional non-periodic domains

We present a two-dimensional hybrid fluid-PIC scheme for the simulation of whistler wave excitation by relativistic electron beams. This scheme includes a number of features which are novel to simulations of this type, including non-periodic boundary conditions and fresh particle injection. Results from our model suggest that non-periodicity of the simulation domain results in the development of fundamentally different wave characteristics than are observed in periodic domains.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Active electron energy distribution function control in direct current discharge using an auxiliary electrode

The electron energy distribution functions are studied in the low voltage dc discharge with a constriction, which is a diaphragm with an opening. The dc discharge glows in helium and is sustained by the electron current emitted from a heated cathode. We performed kinetic simulations of dc discharge characteristics and electron energy distribution functions for different gas pressures (0.8 Torr-4 Torr) and discharge current of 0.1 A. The results of these simulations indicate the ability to control the shape of the electron energy distribution functions by variation of the diaphragm opening radius.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

First demonstration of an asymmetric kinetic equilibrium for a thin current sheet

The modeling of steady state collisionless asymmetric tangential current layers is a challenging and poorly understood problem. For decades now, this difficulty has been limiting numerical models to approximate equilibria built with locally Maxwellian current layers and theoretical analyses to the very restricted Harris equilibrium. We show how the use of any distribution functions depending only on local macroscopic quantities results in a strong alteration of the current layer internal structure, which converges toward an unpredictable quasi-steady state with emission of ion scale perturbations. This transient can be explained in terms of ion kinetic and electron fluid physics. We demonstrate, for the first time, the validity of an asymmetric kinetic equilibrium model as well as its usability as an initial condition of hybrid kinetic simulations. This offers broad perspectives for the current sheet modeling, for which the early phase of instabilities can be studied within the kinetic formalism.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Implications of advanced collision operators for gyrokinetic simulation

In this paper, we explore both the potential improvements and pitfalls that arise when using advanced collision models in gyrokinetic simulations of plasma microinstabilities. Comparisons are made between the simple-but-standard electron Lorentz operator and specific variations of the advanced Sugama operator. The Sugama operator describes multi-species collisions including energy diffusion, momentum and energy conservation terms, and is valid for arbitrary wavelength. We report scans over collision frequency for both low and high ${k}_{\theta }{\rho }_{s}$ modes, with relevance for multiscale simulations that couple ion and electron scale physics. The influence of the ion–ion collision terms—not retained in the electron Lorentz model—on the damping of zonal flows is also explored. Collision frequency scans for linear and nonlinear simulations of ion-temperature-gradient instabilities including impurity ions are presented. Finally, implications for modeling turbulence in the highly collisional edge are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Canonicalization and symplectic simulation of the gyrocenter dynamics in time-independent magnetic fields

The gyrocenter dynamics of charged particles in time-independent magnetic fields is a non-canonical Hamiltonian system. The canonical description of the gyrocenter has both theoretical and practical importance. We provide a general procedure of the gyrocenter canonicalization, which is expressed by the series of a small variable ϵ depending only on the parallel velocity u and can be expressed in a recursive manner. We prove that the truncation of the series to any given order generates a set of exact canonical coordinates for a system, whose Lagrangian approximates to that of the original gyrocenter system in the same order. If flux surfaces exist for the magnetic field, the series stops simply at the second order and an exact canonical form of the gyrocenter system is obtained. With the canonicalization schemes, the canonical symplectic simulation of gyrocenter dynamics is realized for the first time. The canonical symplectic algorithm has the advantage of good conservation properties and long-term numerical accuracy, while avoiding numerical instability. It is worth mentioning that explicitly expressing the canonical Hamiltonian in new coordinates is usually difficult and impractical. We give an iteration procedure that is easy to implement in the original coordinates associated with the coordinate transformation. This is crucial for modern large-scale simulation studies in plasma physics. The dynamics of gyrocenters in the dipole magnetic field and in the toroidal geometry are simulated using the canonical symplectic algorithm by comparison with the higher-order non symplectic Runge-Kutta scheme. The overwhelming superiorities of the symplectic method for the gyrocenter system are evidently exhibited.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Statistical and spectral properties of magnetic islands in reconnecting current sheets during two-ribbon flares

We perform a set of two dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study the reconnection process occurring in current sheets that develop during solar eruptions. Reconnection commences gradually and produces small-scale structures inside the current sheet, which has one end anchored to the bottom boundary and the other end open. The main features we study include plasmoids (or plasma blobs) flowing in the sheet, and X-points between pairs of adjacent islands. The statistical properties of the fine structure and the dependence of the spectral energy on these properties are examined. The flux and size distribution functions of plasmoids roughly follow inverse square power laws at large scales. The mass distribution function is steep at large scales and shallow at small scales. The size distribution also shows that plasmoids are highly asymmetric soon after being formed, while older plasmoids tend to be more circular. The spectral profiles of magnetic and kinetic energy inside the current sheet are both consistent with a power law. The corresponding spectral indices γ are found to vary with the magnetic Reynolds number R{sub m} of the system, but tend to approach a constant for large R{sub m} (>10{sup 5}). The motion and growth of blobs change the spectral index. The growth of new islands causes the power spectrum to steepen, but it becomes shallower when old and large plasmoids leave the computational domain.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Laser-driven, ion-scale magnetospheres in laboratory plasmas. II. Particle-in-cell simulations

Ion-scale magnetospheres have been observed around comets, weakly magnetized asteroids, and localized regions on the Moon and provide a unique environment to study kinetic-scale plasma physics, in particular in the collision-less regime. In this work, we present the results of particle-in-cell simulations that replicate recent experiments on the large plasma device at the University of California, Los Angeles. Using high-repetition rate lasers, ion-scale magnetospheres were created to drive a plasma flow into a dipolar magnetic field embedded in a uniform background magnetic field. The simulations are employed to evolve idealized 2D configurations of the experiments, study highly resolved, volumetric datasets, and determine the magnetospheric structure, magnetopause location, and kinetic-scale structures of the plasma current distribution. We show the formation of a magnetic cavity and a magnetic compression in the magnetospheric region, and two main current structures in the dayside of the magnetic obstacle: the diamagnetic current, supported by the driver plasma flow, and the current associated with the magnetopause, supported by both the background and driver plasmas with some time-dependence. From multiple parameter scans, we show a reflection of the magnetic compression, bounded by the length of the driver plasma, and a higher separation of the main current structures for lower dipolar magnetic moments.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Impurity transport in trapped electron mode driven turbulence

Trapped electron mode turbulence is studied by gyrokinetic simulations with the GYRO code and an analytical model including the effect of a poloidally varying electrostatic potential. Its impact on radial transport of high-Z trace impurities close to the core is thoroughly investigated, and the dependence of the zero-flux impurity density gradient (peaking factor) on local plasma parameters is presented. Parameters such as ion-to-electron temperature ratio, electron temperature gradient, and main species density gradient mainly affect the impurity peaking through their impact on mode characteristics. The poloidal asymmetry, the safety factor, and magnetic shear have the strongest effect on impurity peaking, and it is shown that under certain scenarios where trapped electron modes are dominant, core accumulation of high-Z impurities can be avoided. We demonstrate that accounting for the momentum conservation property of the impurity-impurity collision operator can be important for an accurate evaluation of the impurity peaking factor.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electrical and optical properties of warm dense beryllium along the principal Hugoniot

The electrical and optical properties of warm dense beryllium along the principal Hugoniot for temperatures from 0.95 eV to 10.65 eV and densities from 3.8 to 6.0 g/cm{sup 3} are investigated by using quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations combined with the Kubo-Greenwood formulation. The dc conductivity σ{sub dc} and the ionization fraction are yielded by fitting the optical conductivity with the Drude-Smith model. The first-principles transport coefficients are compared with results of the Lee-More model and the Brysk model [Plasma Phys. 17, 473 (1975)]. Compared with the QMD result, the Lee-More model underestimates σ{sub dc} by 87% at low temperatures, approaches the QMD result gradually with the temperature rising, yet still underestimates σ{sub dc} by 49% corresponding to the temperature 10.65 eV. In the whole temperature range under investigation, the Brysk model overestimates the electronic thermal conductivity κ while the Lee-More model underestimates κ. The differences are reduced with the temperature increasing. At the temperature 10.65 eV, the Brysk κ is still around twice as large as the QMD result, and the Lee-More κ is smaller than the QMD data by about 40%. In addition, QMD Rosseland mean opacities are shown to be three orders of magnitude larger than results of the average-atom model.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1998

Object-Oriented Scientific Programming with Fortran 90

Fortran 90 is a modern language that introduces many important new features beneficial for scientific programming. We discuss our experiences in plasma particle simulation and unstructured adaptive mesh refinement on supercomputers, illustrating the features of Fortran 90 that support the object-oriented methodology.

Fortran 90 Supercomputing Object-Oriented Adaptive↗
NASA NTRS1997

Boundary Layer Formation in the Magnetotail: Geotail Observations and Comparisons with a Global MHD Simulation

We present Geotail plasma and field observations from the middle magnetotail near X(sub GSE) = -46 R(sub E) for the time period 1400 to 1800 UT on December 14, 1994. During that period, the Wind satellite monitored the solar wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) upstream of the bow shock. The IMF was northward and the plasma parameters near average. Geotail observed slow tailward flows and a northward field. The plasma and field parameters indicate that Geotail is either in the plasma sheet or in a boundary layer. We used the Wind solar wind plasma and IMF data as input for a global simulation of that time interval. Comparison of the simulation results with the observational data show very good overall agreement of the magnitudes of the plasma and field parameters. In particular, the simulation reproduces the slow tailward flows and northward field found at Geotail. Small scale temporal, variations are less well reproduced. The simulation shows the formation of a broad boundary layer (which we call tail flank boundary layer, TFBL) that consists of closed flux which is formed by magnetic magnetic reconnection of IMF and lobe field lines. The simulation results indicate that Geotail is located very close to the TFBL and may have entered the TFBL proper. We show that the TFBL plays an important role in energy transport from the solar wind into the magnetosphere during northward IMF conditions.

Raeder, J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Turbulence spreading effects on the ELM size and SOL width

BOUT++ turbulence simulations were performed to investigate the impact of turbulence spreading on the edge localized mode (ELM) size and divertor heat flux width (λ q ) broadening in small ELM regimes. Here, this study is motivated by EAST experiments. BOUT++ linear simulations of a pedestal radial electric field (E r ) scan show that the dominant toroidal number mode (n) shifts from high-n to low-n, with a narrow mode spectrum, and the maximum linear growth rate increases as the pedestal E r well deepens. The nonlinear simulations show that as the net E × B pedestal flow increases, the pressure fluctuation level and its inward penetration beyond the top of the pedestal both increase. This leads to a transition from small ELMs to large ELMs. Both inward and outward turbulence spreading are sensitive to the scrape-off-layer (SOL) plasma profiles. The inward turbulence spreading increases for the steep SOL profiles, leading to increasing pedestal energy loss in the small ELM regime. The SOL width (λ q ) is significantly broadened progressing from the ELM-free to small ELM regime, due to the onset of strong radial turbulent transport. The extent of the SOL width (λ q ) broadening depends strongly on outward turbulence spreading. The fluctuation energy intensity flux Γ ε at the separatrix can be enhanced by increasing either pedestal E r flow shear or local SOL pressure gradient. The λ q is broadened as the fluctuation energy intensity flux Γ ε at the last close flux surface (LCFS) increases. Local SOL E × B flow shear will restrain outward turbulence spreading and the associated heat flux width broadening. Operating in H-mode with small ELMs has the potential to solve two critical problems: reducing the ELM size and broadening the SOL width.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1994

Target compressions by working fluids driven with solid liner implosions

Compression by a spherical solid liner of a gold target surrounded by a hydrogen plasma is simulated. Two-dimensional simulations that treat only a subset of the physics included in the one-dimensional code were performed in an attempt to assess multidimensional effects. A one-dimensional numerical code has been developed to study the effects of thermal radiation and conduction. Results of pressure, density, and energy deposited for different initial plasma conditions are presented and discussed. Results from both one- and two-dimensional codes show that the average target density at peak compression is 39-43 g/cu cm, using the SHIVA Star facility at 90 kV discharge.

Chiang, P.-R.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Invited Review Article: Gas puff imaging diagnostics of edge plasma turbulence in magnetic fusion devices

Gas puff imaging (GPI) is a diagnostic of plasma turbulence which uses a puff of neutral gas at the plasma edge to increase the local visible light emission for improved space-time resolution of plasma fluctuations. This paper reviews gas puff imaging diagnostics of edge plasma turbulence in magnetic fusion research, with a focus on the instrumentation, diagnostic cross-checks, and interpretation issues. The gas puff imaging hardware, optics, and detectors are described for about 10 GPI systems implemented over the past similar to 15 years. Comparison of GPI results with other edge turbulence diagnostic results is described, and many common features are observed. Here, several issues in the interpretation of GPI measurements are discussed, and potential improvements in hardware and modeling are suggested.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗