Speaker
Dr
Michael Cole
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)
Description
Whole-volume gyrokinetic simulations of stellarators are necessary to address a number of important physics and engineering issues, including energetic particle confinement op- timisation and turbulent transport prediction. In recent work, a whole-volume stellarator version of the global gyrokinetic Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code XGC[1] is under development. A 3D interpolation of equilibrium magnetic field to the last closed flux surface, calculated using the VMEC MHD equilibrum code, has been implemented, along with a 3D mesh for calculating the evolution of the electrostatic potential.
The 3D version of XGC has been successfully benchmarked with the NBI code BEAMS3D[2] and the core 3D gyrokinetic code EUTERPE[3] for energetic particle orbit tracing in Wen- delstein 7-X (W7-X) geometry. It has been used to investigate collisionless alpha particle confinement in potential stellarator reactor designs. The new tool permits direct comparison for alpha particle loss between quasi-axisymmetric and quasi-isodynamic designs.
Furthermore, microturbulence has been observed in the outer portion of the core, and in the edge, of the W7-AS stellarator[4], and is likely to dominate in this region of Wendelstein 7- X or any stellarator reactor. Developments to the XGC code will permit 3D global simulation of ion-scale turbulence in stellarators, which has so far not been achieved. By simulating first the linear stage of the Ion Temperature Gradient-driven (ITG) instability, and then nonlinear turbulence, XGC will be applied to better understand the global behaviour of turbulence in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator.
1. S.-H. Ku, C.-S. Chang, and P. Diamond, Nucl. Fusion 49, 115021 (2009).
2. M. McMillan and S. A. Lazerson, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 56, 095019 (2014).
3. V. Kornilov and R. Kleiber, Phys. Plasma 11, 3196 (2004).
4. M. Hirsch et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 50, 053001 (2008).
| Country or International Organization | United States of America |
|---|---|
| Paper Number | TH/P6-21 |
Primary author
Dr
Michael Cole
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)
Co-authors
Dr
Choong-Seock Chang
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and KAIST)
Dr
Robert Hager
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)
Dr
Samuel Lazerson
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)
Dr
Seung-Hoe Ku
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)
Dr
Toseo Moritaka
(National Institute for Fusion Science)
