Developments in the gyrofluid approach to Tokamak turbulence simulations

G. W. Hammett, M. A. Beer, W. Dorland, S. C. Cowley, S. A. Smith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

A status report is given on developments in the gyrofluid approach to simulating tokamak turbulence. 'Gyrofluid' (r 'gyro-Landau fluid') equations attempt to extend the range of validity of fluid equations to a more collisionless regime typical of tokamaks, by developing fluid models of important kinetic effects such as Landau-damping and gyro-orbit averaging. The fluid moments approach should converge if enough moments are kept, though this may require a large number of moments for some processes. Toroidal gyrofluid equations have been extended from 4 to 6 moments, and to include the mu Del B magnetic mirroring force. An efficient field-line coordinate system for toroidal turbulence simulations (useful for both particle and fluid simulations) is presented. Nonlinear 3-D simulations of toroidal ITG-driven turbulence indicate that turbulence-generated sheared flows play an important role in the development and saturation of the turbulence. There is a strong enhancement of the flows when the electrons are assumed adiabatic on each flux surface, which is partially offset by toroidal drift effects which reduce the flows.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number006
Pages (from-to)973-985
Number of pages13
JournalPlasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Volume35
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 1993

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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