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At least 1,459 records · Page 81
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Regulation of Alfvén Eigenmodes by Microturbulence in Fusion Plasmas

Global gyrokinetic simulations of mesoscale reversed shear Alfven eigenmodes (RSAE) excited by energetic particles (EP) in fusion plasmas find that RSAE amplitude and EP transport are much higher than experimental levels at nonlinear saturation, but quickly diminish to very low levels after the saturation when background microturbulence is artificially suppressed. In contrast, in simulations coupling micro-meso scales, the RSAE amplitude and EP transport decrease drastically at the initial saturation but later increases to the experimental levels in the quasi-steady state with bursty dynamics due to regulation by thermal ion temperature gradient (ITG) microturbulence. The quasi-steady state EP transport is larger for a stronger microturbulence. Here, the RSAE amplitude in the quasi-steady state ITG-RSAE turbulence from gyrokinetic simulations, for the first time, agrees very well with experimental measurements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Impacts of pellets injected from the low-field side on plasma in ITER

Impacts of pellets injected from the low-field side (LFS) on plasma in ITER are investigated using the 1.5D BALDUR integrated predictive modeling code. In these simulations, the pellet ablation is described using the neutral gas shielding (NGS) model. The pellet ablation model is coupled with the plasma core transport model, which is a combination of the MMM95 anomalous transport model and NCLASS neoclassical transport model. The boundary conditions are assumed to be at the top of the pedestal, in which the pedestal parameters are predicted using a pedestal model based on the theoretical-based pedestal width scaling (either magnetic and flow shear stabilization width scaling, or flow shear stabilization width scaling, or normalized poloidal pressure width scaling) and the infinite-n ballooning mode pressure gradient limit. These pedestal models depend sensitively on the density at the top of the pedestal, which can be strongly influenced by the injection of pellets. The combination of the MMM95 and NCLASS models, together with the pedestal and NGS models, is used to simulate the time evolution of the plasma current, ion and electron temperatures, and density profiles for ITER standard type-I ELMy H-mode discharges during the injection of LFS pellets. It is found that the injection of pellets results in a complicated plasma scenario, especially in the outer region of the plasma and the plasma conditions at the boundary in which the pellet has an impact on increasing the plasma edge density, but reducing the plasma edge temperature. The LFS pellet has a stronger impact on the edge as compared to the center. For fusion performance, the pellet can result in either enhancement or degradation, depending sensitively on the pellet parameters; such as the pellet size, pellet velocity, and pellet frequency. For example, when a series of deuterium pellets with a size of 0.5 cm, velocity of 1 km/s, and frequency of 2 Hz are injected into the ITER plasma from the LFS, the plasma performance, evaluated in terms of Q{sub fusion}, can increase to 72% of that before the use of pellets. It is also found that the injection of pellets results in an increase in the ion and electron densities, but does not enhance the central plasma density. On the other hand, it results in the formation of another peak of the plasma density in the outer region near the plasma edge. The formation of the density peak results in the reduction of plasma transports near the edge by decreasing the contributions of ion-temperature-gradient and trapped electron modes, as well as kinetic ballooning modes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Simulations of plasma behavior during pellet injection in ITER

Plasma behavior during pellet injection in ITER is investigated using a 1.5D BALDUR integrated predictive modeling code. In these simulations, the pellet ablation is described using the neutral gas shielding (NGS) model developed by Parks and Turnbull [Phys. Fluids 21, 1735 (1978)]. The NGS pellet ablation model that includes the {nabla}B drift effect is coupled with a plasma core transport model, which is a combination of an MMM95 anomalous transport model and an NCLASS neoclassical transport model. The combination of core transport models, together with pellet model, is used to simulate the time evolution of plasma current, ion and electron temperatures, and density profiles for ITER standard type-I ELMy H-mode discharges during the pellet injection. It is found that the injection of pellet can result in either enhancement or degradation of plasma performance. The {nabla}B drift effect on the pellet deposition is very strong in ITER. The plasma density with high field side pellets, which favorable with the {nabla}B drift effect, is much higher and pellet can penetrate much deeper than that with low field side pellets.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Investigation of the Edge Plasma Parameters and Measurements of the Plasma Longitudinal Rotation Velocity by a Mach Probe in a Lithium Experiment on the T-11M Tokamak

The edge plasma parameters were measured by means of a Mach probe in a lithium experiment on the T-11M tokamak. The angular and radial distributions of the ion saturation current, along with the radial distribution of the electron temperature, were obtained in different modes of tokamak operation. The radial distributions of the electron temperature and ion saturation current in the main operating mode (L-mode) revealed a peak in the scrape-off-layer of the vertical limiter (lithium emitter), which can indicate the formation of a magnetic island in this region. The measured plasma flow velocity along the magnetic field was found to be close to one-half of the ion sound velocity for Li{sup +} ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Fusion Energy Science Joint Facilities and Theory Research Target 2011: Final Report for the Period October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011

Briefly stated, the goal of this combined experiment/theory milestone was to improve our knowledge of the physics processes that control the H-mode pedestal by applying models of these mechanisms to experimental data. A concerted and coordinated effort of experimental, theory and modeling activities has examined several physics mechanisms of interest, and has met the goals of the milestone. A few noteworthy results will be noted here. The activity has applied peeling-ballooning theory to all three machines, and increased confidence that the theory predicts the ultimate limits to pedestal height in an ELMing plasma. The activity has expanded the range of conditions for testing of the EPED model, and increased confidence in the ability of the model to compute the pedestal pressure height in medium aspect ratio tokamaks. Kinetic neoclassical models have been used to verify that an important analytic model for the pedestal bootstrap current has good accuracy in many regimes of interest but needs correction at high collisionality. A benchmarking effort between electromagnetic gyrokinetic codes has provided increased understanding of how to use these codes in the pedestal, and has laid the groundwork for using these codes to study linear stability of gyrokinetic modes in and on top of the pedestal. Comparisons of data and models have led to successful simulations of a quasi-coherent mode in C-Mod and to the tentative identification of a high frequency mode in DIII-D. A kinetic neoclassical model qualitatively agrees with some features of pedestal density profiles. A paleoclassical transport model quantitatively predicts some features of the electron temperature profiles in NSTX and DIII-D. The milestone activity also laid the groundwork for future advancements in understanding and predicting the pedestal. All three machines obtained a wealth of pedestal data under a wide variety of operating conditions. Some of these data have been analyzed already, and the analysis and comparison with models will provide important results over the next year or two. Many codes were improved in significant ways in order to model data under the challenging conditions of the pedestal. In addition, new and strengthened collaborations were established between experiment, modeling and theory, and these efforts include providing mechanisms for sharing experimental data. All of these efforts will continue to provide major benefits to future pedestal studies. Much of the experimental and modeling work performed to support this milestone is reported in detail in the research contributions to this report. Here, a summary of results from the various contributions, as they pertain to several proposed pedestal physics processes, is discussed here. Emphasis is placed on mechanisms for which there are results from one or more machines or one or more models. Work from preceding quarterly reports is used for some of this summary. At the end of this summary, a brief summary of implications for ITER and implications for future work will be presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1990

The magnetic pumping of plasmas with sawtooth waveforms

The pumping of plasmas by sawtooth-waveform magnetic induction variations is studied theoretically and by means of computer simulations. A sawtooth is a cycle waveform that is characterized by a slow increase in the magnetic induction followed by a rapid drop in the induction. Two types of sawtooth pumping are analyzed, and the types classified as to whether or not the first adiabatic invariants of the plasma particles are conserved during the rapid drops in the magnetic induction. When the invariants are conserved, the sawtooth waveforms are found to be less efficient than square waves for pumping plasmas. When the adiabatic invariations are not conserved, the pumping efficiency is found to be a slight improvement over square waves. Both types of pumping are applied to a hypothetical tokamak plasma and it is concluded that neither type of sawtooth pumping is practical for heating magnetically confined fusion plasmas.

Borovsky, Joseph E.↗
DOE OSTI2011

Role of the plasma interaction with magnetic field in the 'missing power' problem

It is shown that, at rapid changes of the heating power, the magnetically confined equilibrium plasma almost completely absorbs the injected energy, so that its only small part goes to the magnetic field. The result is obtained within the standard MHD theory with use of exact consequences of the force-balance equations in toroidal geometry. It is assumed that, when heated, the plasma evolves from one equilibrium state to another with the magnetic field frozen-in. Another constraint is the conservation of the toroidal magnetic flux in the plasma-wall vacuum gap. It is shown that the plasma interaction with magnetic field (which is traditionally neglected in the analysis of heat transport in tokamaks and stellarators) is the natural mechanism of fast redistribution of energy in the plasma, observed in some experiments in these devices at switchon of powerful heat sources.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Theoretical Studies of Alfven Waves and Energetic Particle Physics in Fusion Plasmas

This report summarizes major theoretical findings in the linear as well as nonlinear physics of Alfvén waves and energetic particles in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. On the linear physics, a variational formulation, based on the separation of singular and regular spatial scales, for drift-Alfvén instabilities excited by energetic particles is established. This variational formulation is then applied to derive the general fishbone-like dispersion relations corresponding to the various Alfvén eigenmodes and energetic-particle modes. It is further employed to explore in depth the low-frequency Alfvén eigenmodes and demonstrate the non-perturbative nature of the energetic particles. On the nonlinear physics, new novel findings are obtained on both the nonlinear wave-wave interactions and nonlinear wave-energetic particle interactions. It is demonstrated that both the energetic particles and the fine radial mode structures could qualitatively affect the nonlinear evolution of Alfvén eigenmodes. Meanwhile, a theoretical approach based on the Dyson equation is developed to treat self-consistently the nonlinear interactions between Alfvén waves and energetic particles, and is then applied to explain simulation results of energetic-particle modes. Relevant list of journal publications on the above findings is also included.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Advances in 3D transient plasma dynamics and control through MHD and hybrid fluid-kinetic simulations with JOREK

Transient phenomena and their control are of high relevance in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas to guarantee a stable and safe plasma operation. Interpretative simulations can maximize the insights gained from experiments on present machines and predictive simulations can help in the preparation of design, mitigation techniques and operational scenarios for future devices. In this article, we provide an overview of recent advances and novel scientific results obtained with the 3D non-linear hybrid fluid-kinetic code JOREK, covering physics of plasma transients from the core to the scrape-off layer (SOL) both for tokamak and stellarator devices. Substantial progress was made in the physics understanding, model validation with experiments and experiment interpretation, thus, giving confidence for predictions to devices like DTT, ITER and DEMO. The topics addressed comprise a wide range: the edge physics of new operation scenarios and edge localized mode suppression; major disruptions with a focus on runaway electrons and vertical displacement events as well as disruption mitigation by shattered pellet injection; the physics mechanisms and operational limits of the flux pumping regime for sawtooth control; MHD limits of stellarators and work towards incorporating advanced edge/SOL/exhaust dynamics; continuing improvements of the code for more efficient hybrid simulations on conventional and accelerated high performance computing architectures.

disruptions↗
DOE OSTI2013

Kinetic turbulence simulations at extreme scale on leadership-class systems

Reliable predictive simulation capability addressing confinement properties in magnetically confined fusion plasmas is critically-important for ITER, a 20 billion dollar international burning plasma device under construction in France. The complex study of kinetic turbulence, which can severely limit the energy confinement and impact the economic viability of fusion systems, requires simulations at extreme scale for such an unprecedented device size. Our newly optimized, global, ab initio particle-in-cell code solving the nonlinear equations underlying gyrokinetic theory achieves excellent performance with respect to "time to solution" at the full capacity of the IBM Blue Gene/Q on 786,432 cores of Mira at ALCF and recently of the 1,572,864 cores of Sequoia at LLNL. Recent multithreading and domain decomposition optimizations in the new GTC-P code represent critically important software advances for modern, low memory per core systems by enabling routine simulations at unprecedented size (130 million grid points ITER-scale) and resolution (65 billion particles).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Performance and transport in the ARC tokamak

The ARC TM tokamak, a high-field (𝐵 𝑇 = 11.4 T) fusion power plant, under development by Commonwealth Fusion Systems, is studied using a suite of integrated modelling tools to predict its fusion power generation (𝑃𝑓⁡𝑢⁢𝑠), transport and confinement properties. Analysis is based off an ARC operational point scoped first with zero-dimensional (0-D) plasma operational contour (POPCON) modelling to produce 1.13 GW of fusion power. A suite of integrated modelling tools (TRANSP, ASTRA and TORAX) were applied to predict the performance and kinetic profiles of the ARC design point, yielding a range of predicted performance spanning from ∼900 to 1300 MW in rough quantitative agreement with POPCON predictions. The sensitivity of these results to uncertain modelling inputs was probed using scans of pedestal boundary conditions around EPED-predicted values (total pressure and temperature ratios), tungsten concentration and seperatrix density around their nominal assumptions. Pedestal pressure and pedestal top (𝑇 𝑖 /𝑇 𝑒 ) play a large role in 1.5-dimensional performance predictions, able to modify the predicted 𝑃 𝑓⁡𝑢⁢𝑠 by a factor of 2 within reasonable assumptions. High-fidelity core nonlinear gyrokinetic profile predictions, performed using CGYRO (Candy et al. 2016 J. Comput. Phys., vol. 324, pp. 73–93) coupled with the PORTALS (Rodriguez-Fernandez et al. 2024 Nucl. Fusion, vol. 64, 076034; Phys. Plasmas, vol. 31, 2024, 062501) framework, yield substantially lower performance (𝑃 𝑓⁡𝑢⁢𝑠 =677 MW) compared with 0-D and medium-fidelity modelling for nominal assumptions, showing that there is non-negligible uncertainty between models and that future work on SPARC may help resolve discrepancies. Lower overall performance results from significantly reduced volume-averaged densities and temperatures, along with reduced levels of density and temperature peaking. Turbulence and transport are largely dominated by ion temperature gradient across the profile, confirmed by both linear stability and the response of the nonlinear fluxes to changes in gradients, with some impact of kinetic ballooning modes in the deep core. This work represents one of the most complete scoping of potential fusion power plant conditions performed to date. The extensive integrated modelling provides confidence in ARC performance approaching 1 GW, while nonlinear gyrokinetic modelling results in open questions into the physics of density and temperature peaking in fusion-power-plant-relevant operational space. A discussion of results and the role that the SPARC tokamak (Creely et al. 2020 J. Plasma Phys., vol. 86, 865860502) will play in informing ARC design, performance and operation is presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Electrostatic transport in L-mode scrape-off layer plasmas of Tore Supra tokamak. II. Transport by fluctuations

The turbulent transport of particles is investigated using rake probes at the top of the scrape-off layer (SOL) of circular ohmically heated L-mode plasmas in the Tore Supra tokamak [G. Giruzzi et al., Nucl. Fusion 49, 104010 (2009)]. Both radial and poloidal non-linear fluxes are estimated by means of two reciprocating arrays separated toroidally by 120 Degree-Sign . The time average of the radial (poloidal) flux is positive (negative) through the whole SOL profile. The respective effective transport velocity are about {sub t} Almost-Equal-To 30m s{sup -1} and {sub t} Almost-Equal-To -60m s{sup -1} close to the last closed flux surface. Both components present a standard deviation about 10 times higher than their respective mean amplitude, and time-distributions highly skewed toward values of the same sign as their mean values. The existence of a nonlinear poloidal flux is associated with the local tilt of filament eddies due to electric and magnetic shear. At the last closed flux surface, where plasma filaments experience their early life, the orientation of the velocity field is consistent with structure dynamics which originate from the outboard midplane and spread along field lines toward the rest of the poloidal section. The localized tilt of the eddy structures corresponds to the effect of the magnetic shear. Further into the SOL, the orientation of the velocity field evolves along radius in agreement with a simple model of propagating filaments progressively tilted by an electric shear. The combined effects of electric and magnetic shear on the eddy tilting have potentially a crucial impact on the existence of a Reynolds stress {sub t} component, which is strongly poloidally asymmetric at the edge of tokamak plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Investigation of magnetic-pole-enhanced inductively coupled nitrogen-argon plasmas

This article presented the features of the mixed mode and H mode in magnetic pole enhanced, inductively coupled Ar-N{sub 2} plasmas using RF-compensated Langmuir probe measurements. To fully characterize plasma parameters and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs), the gas pressure and argon content were varied. It was observed that with increasing the nitrogen content and gas pressure, the critical RF power to sustain H mode increases; this increase was more prominent for pure nitrogen discharge at higher pressure. The electron number density (n{sub e}) shows increasing trend with increasing RF power, while at higher gas pressures, the electron number density decreases at fixed RF power. Mostly, the EEPFs show a Maxwellian distribution even at low RF power (for higher argon content in the discharge) and at moderate RF power (for higher or pure nitrogen content in the discharge) for pressures of 15-60 mTorr. With increasing the nitrogen content in the mixture, the low energy part of the EEPF is more Druyvesteyn with a distorted high energy tail at low RF power. At fixed RF power, the slope of EEPF changes sharply with increasing pressure. It was observed that in hybrid mode, the EEPF at higher gas pressure (75 mTorr) in a pure nitrogen discharge shows a flat hole near the average electron energy of 3 eV and changes to Maxwellian distribution in H mode. The skin depth versus RF power shows that the skin depth is smaller than the critical dimension of the chamber, regardless of the gas type and the gas pressure.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Cryodynamics can solve the energy problem by stabilizing ITER: A prediction

An optimistic scenario is sketched which only at first sight appears unrealistic. The ingredients go back to the names of Zwicky and Chandrasekhar. Thermodynamics is not the only basis on which to build macroscopic machines. The recently described sister discipline of cryodynamics is characterized by a decrease in entropy and enables thereby, in conjunction with the entropy increase of thermodynamics, an eternally recycling cosmos. A first down-to-earth application is proposed that would be highly beneficial in stabilizing hot fusion. Skepticism and hope still are in balance but a new industrial age with unlimited energy is proposed to be dawning.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Heat flux modeling using ion drift effects in DIII-D H-mode plasmas with resonant magnetic perturbations

The heat flux patterns measured in low-collisionality DIII-D H-mode plasmas strongly deviate from simultaneously measured CII emission patterns, used as indicator of particle flux, during applied resonant magnetic perturbations. While the CII emission clearly shows typical striations, which are similar to magnetic footprint patterns obtained from vacuum field line tracing, the heat flux is usually dominated by one large peak at the strike point position. The vacuum approximation, which only considers applied magnetic fields and neglects plasma response and plasma effects, cannot explain the shape of the observed heat flux pattern. One possible explanation is the effect of particle drifts. This is included in the field line equations and the results are discussed with reference to the measurement. Electrons and ions show different drift motions at thermal energy levels in a guiding center approximation. While electrons hardly deviate from the field lines, ions can drift several centimetres away from field line flux surfaces. A model is presented in which an ion heat flux, based on the ion drift motion from various kinetic energies as they contribute to a thermal Maxwellian distribution, is calculated. The simulated heat flux is directly compared to measurements with a varying edge safety factor q{sub 95}. This analysis provides evidence for the dominate effect of high-energy ions in carrying heat from the plasma inside the separatrix to the target. High-energy ions are deposited close to the unperturbed strike line, while low-energy ions can travel into the striated magnetic topology.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Striation pattern of target particle and heat fluxes in three dimensional simulations for DIII-D

The application of resonant magnetic perturbations results in a non-axisymmetric striation pattern of magnetic field lines from the plasma interior which intersect the divertor targets. The impact on related particle and heat fluxes is investigated by three dimensional computer simulations for two different recycling conditions (controlled via neutral gas pumping). It is demonstrated that a mismatch between the particle and heat flux striation pattern (splitting vs. no splitting), as is repeatedly observed in ITER similar shape H-mode plasmas at DIII-D, can be reproduced by the simulations for high recycling conditions at the onset of partial detachment. These results indicate that a detailed knowledge of the particle and energy balance is at least as important for realistic simulations as the consideration of a change in the magnetic field structure by plasma response effects.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Stabilization of electron-scale turbulence by electron density gradient in national spherical torus experiment

Theory and experiments have shown that electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence on the electron gyro-scale, k{sub ⊥}ρ{sub e} ≲ 1, can be responsible for anomalous electron thermal transport in NSTX. Electron scale (high-k) turbulence is diagnosed in NSTX with a high-k microwave scattering system [D. R. Smith et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 123501 (2008)]. Here we report on stabilization effects of the electron density gradient on electron-scale density fluctuations in a set of neutral beam injection heated H-mode plasmas. We found that the absence of high-k density fluctuations from measurements is correlated with large equilibrium density gradient, which is shown to be consistent with linear stabilization of ETG modes due to the density gradient using the analytical ETG linear threshold in F. Jenko et al. [Phys. Plasmas 8, 4096 (2001)] and linear gyrokinetic simulations with GS2 [M. Kotschenreuther et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 88, 128 (1995)]. We also found that the observed power of electron-scale turbulence (when it exists) is anti-correlated with the equilibrium density gradient, suggesting density gradient as a nonlinear stabilizing mechanism. Higher density gradients give rise to lower values of the plasma frame frequency, calculated based on the Doppler shift of the measured density fluctuations. Linear gyrokinetic simulations show that higher values of the electron density gradient reduce the value of the real frequency, in agreement with experimental observation. Nonlinear electron-scale gyrokinetic simulations show that high electron density gradient reduces electron heat flux and stiffness, and increases the ETG nonlinear threshold, consistent with experimental observations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Filterscope diagnostic system on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST)

A filterscope diagnostic system has been mounted to observe the line emission and visible bremsstrahlung emission from plasma on the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak during the 2014 campaign. By this diagnostic system, multiple wavelengths including D{sub α} (656.1 nm), D{sub γ} (433.9 nm), He II (468.5 nm), Li I (670.8 nm), Li II (548.3 nm), C III (465.0 nm), O II (441.5 nm), Mo I (386.4 nm), W I (400.9 nm), and visible bremsstrahlung radiation (538.0 nm) are monitored with corresponding wavelength filters. All these multi-channel signals are digitized at up to 200 kHz simultaneously. This diagnostic plays a crucial role in studying edge localized modes and H-mode plasmas, due to the high temporal resolution and spatial resolution that have been designed into it.

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