Research
Integrated Modelling
and MHD

Highlights

Benchmark of a self-consistent dynamic 1D divertor model DIV1D using the 2D SOLPS-ITER code

G.L. Derks, J.P.K.W. Frankemölle, J.T.W. Koenders, M. van Berkel, H. Reimerdes, M. Wensing and E. Westerhof, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 64 (2022) 125013. link

This paper presents DIV1D, a new 1D dynamic physics-based model of the divertor plasma under development to study and control the dynamics of detached plasmas. An innovative feature of DIV1D is that it mimics cross-field transport using an effective flux expansion and includes a neutral gas background outside the divertor leg. We outline a 1D mapping procedure for static 2D SOLPS-ITER simulations of divertor plasmas in the Tokamak á Configuration Variable, which can be used to benchmark 1D codes. For DIV1D good agreement is found for the most important divertor plasma quantities along the leg (e.g., densities temperature, heat flux, and velocity) both in a qualitative and quantitative sense. In addition, the comparison with SOLPS-ITER demonstrates that DIV1D self-consistently captures the evolution of divertor plasma quantities in the main heat flux channel as a function of the upstream plasma density in a scan from 2 to 3×10^19 m^−3. The agreement is ascribed to the unique account of cross-field transport in DIV1D with an effective flux expansion and the interaction with an external neutral gas background.

 

B2.5-Eunomia simulations of Magnum-PSI detachment experiments: I. Quantitative comparisons with experimental measurements

R. Chandra, H. J. de Blank, P. Diomede, H.J.N van Eck, H.J. van der Meiden, T.W. Morgan, J.W.M. Vernimmen, E. Westerhof, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 63 (2021) 095006. link

Detachment experiments have been carried out in the linear plasma device Magnum-PSI by increasing the gas pressure near the target. In order to have a proper detailed analysis of the mechanism behind momentum and power loss in detachment, a quantitative match is pursued between B2.5-Eunomia solutions and experimental data. B2.5 is a multi fluid plasma code and Eunomia is a Monte Carlo solver for neutral particles, and they are coupled together to provide steady-state solution of the plasma and neutral distribution in space. B2.5-Eunomia input parameters are adjusted to produce a close replication of the plasma beam measured in the experiments without any gas puffing in the target chamber. Using this replication as an initial condition, the neutral pressure near the plasma beam target is exclusively increased during simulation, matching the pressures measured in the experiments. Reasonable agreement is found between the electron temperature of the simulation results with experimental measurements using laser Thomson scattering near the target. The simulations also reveal the effect of increased gas pressure on the plasma current, effectively reducing the current penetration from the plasma source. B2.5-Eunomia is capable of reproducing detachment characteristics, namely the loss of plasma pressure along the magnetic field and the reduction of particle and heat flux to the target. The simulation results for plasma and neutrals will allow future studies of the exact contribution of individual plasma-neutral collisions to momentum and energy loss in detachment in Magnum-PSI.

 

New insights into the generalized Rutherford equation for nonlinear neoclassical tearing mode growth from 2D reduced MHD simulations

E. Westerhof, H.J. de Blank and J. Pratt, Nucl. Fusion 56 (2016) 036016 (6pp). link.

Two dimensional reduced MHD simulations of neoclassical tearing mode growth and suppression by ECCD are performed. The perturbation of the bootstrap current density and the EC drive current density perturbation are assumed to be functions of the perturbed flux surfaces. In the case of ECCD, this implies that the applied power is flux surface averaged to obtain the EC driven current density distribution. The results are consistent with predictions from the generalized Rutherford equation using common expressions for Δ'bs and Δ'ECCD. These expressions are commonly perceived to describe only the effect on the tearing mode growth of the helical component of the respective current perturbation acting through the modification of Ohm's law. Our results show that they describe in addition the effect of the poloidally averaged current density perturbation which acts through modification of the tearing mode stability index. Except for modulated ECCD, the largest contribution to the mode growth comes from this poloidally averaged current density perturbation.