Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik
P 7: Magnetic Confinement I - Helmholtz Graduate School III
P 7.5: Talk
Tuesday, March 6, 2018, 12:15–12:40, A 0.112
Influence of plasma backgrounds including neutrals on SOL filaments using 3D simulations — •David Schwörer1,2, Nick Walkden2, Huw Leggate1, Fulvio Militello2, and Miles M. Turner1 — 1Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland — 2Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Culham, UK
Filaments are field aligned density and temperature perturbations, which can carry a significant amount of particles and heat from the last closed flux surface to the far scrape-off layer (SOL). In order to design next generation machines, understanding this non diffusive transport mechanism is beneficial to predict wall fluxes.
We have carried out non-linear, three-dimensional simulations, including neutral-plasma interactions, using the STORM module for BOUT++. The heat and particle influx is varied, generating self-consistent 1D profiles that reproduce both low and high recycling regimes. Filaments were seeded on the backgrounds, and the resulting filament motion was studied. Our previous studies found a strong target temperature dependence of the filament velocity. This has been observed for filaments of critical size and larger, whereas smaller filaments showed a stronger density dependence. While investigating the role of viscosity, it was found that sheath currents and the plasma viscosity at the target strongly influence the filament velocity. Here we extend the neutrals model, to allow access to higher density scrape-off layer regimes. This analysis has been carried out using a new python interface for BOUT++, which will also be discussed.