Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-rngvg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-05T12:34:21.653Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reduced models of turbulent transport in helical plasmas including effects of zonal flows and trapped electrons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2020

S. Toda*
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science/The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Toki 509-5292, Gifu, Japan
M. Nunami
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science/The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Toki 509-5292, Gifu, Japan
H. Sugama
Affiliation:
National Institute for Fusion Science/The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Toki 509-5292, Gifu, Japan
*
†Email address for correspondence: toda@nifs.ac.jp
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using transport models, the impacts of trapped electrons on zonal flows and turbulence in helical field configurations are studied. The effect of the trapped electrons on the characteristic quantities of the linear response for zonal flows is investigated for two different field configurations in the Large Helical Device. The turbulent potential fluctuation, zonal flow potential fluctuation and ion energy transport are quickly predicted by the reduced models for which the linear and nonlinear simulation results are used to determine dimensionless parameters related to turbulent saturation levels and typical zonal flow wavenumbers. The effects of zonal flows on the turbulent transport for the case of the kinetic electron response are much smaller than or comparable to those in an adiabatic electron condition for the two different field configurations. It is clarified that the effect of zonal flows on the turbulent transport due to the trapped electrons changes, depending on the field configurations.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1. The radial profiles of the density (a), the ion (b), the electron (c) temperatures and the safety factor (d) are shown. The solid, dashed and dotted curves represent the profiles at $t=2.2~\text{s}$ for the standard field configuration, $t=1.8~\text{s}$ and $t=1.9~\text{s}$ for the inward-shifted configuration in the LHD #88343 plasmas, respectively.

Figure 1

Figure 2. The nonlinear simulation results, $\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}}_{\text{i}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ are compared with the model function (3.1). The circle and square marks correspond to the cases for the modified adiabatic electron and kinetic electron conditions, respectively.

Figure 2

Figure 3. The comparison of the nonlinear simulation results, $\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}}_{\text{i}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ with the reduced model (3.2) is shown. The circle and square marks correspond to the cases for the modified adiabatic electron and kinetic electron conditions, respectively.

Figure 3

Figure 4. The linear responses of zonal flows at $\tilde{k}_{x}=0.25$ are shown for (a) the standard field configuration and (b) the inward-shifted field configuration at $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}=0.65$. The black and red curves represent the linear responses of zonal flows for the cases of the modified adiabatic and the kinetic electron responses, respectively.

Figure 4

Figure 5. The radial dependences of the zonal flow decay time, $\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}$ are shown for (a) the standard field configuration (SD) and (b) the inward-shifted field configuration (IW). The black and red curves represent the radial dependences of $\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}$ for the cases of the modified adiabatic (MAE) and kinetic electron (KE) responses, respectively.

Figure 5

Figure 6. The radial dependences of the ratio $\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}(KE)/\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}(MAE)$ are shown for the standard field configuration and the inward-shifted field configuration, where $\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}(MAE)$ and $\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}(KE)$ are the zonal flow decay times for the modified adiabatic and kinetic electron responses, respectively. The black and red curves represent the radial dependences of $\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}(KE)/\tilde{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}_{\text{ZF}}(MAE)$ for the SD and IW configurations, respectively.

Figure 6

Figure 7. The radial dependence of the model reproductions and predictions for the turbulent potential fluctuation, $\bar{{\mathcal{T}}}$ is shown for (a) the standard field configuration and (b) the inward-shifted field configuration. The black and red curves represent the model predictions for $\bar{{\mathcal{T}}}$ in the adiabatic and kinetic electron conditions, respectively. The circle and triangle marks indicate the nonlinear simulation results of $\bar{{\mathcal{T}}}$ for the KE and AE conditions, respectively.

Figure 7

Figure 8. The radial dependence of the model reproductions and predictions for the zonal flow potential fluctuation, $\bar{{\mathcal{Z}}}$ is shown for (a) the standard field configuration and (b) the inward-shifted field configuration. The black and red curves represent the model predictions for $\bar{{\mathcal{Z}}}$ for the modified adiabatic and kinetic electron conditions, respectively. The circle and triangle marks indicate the nonlinear simulation results of $\bar{{\mathcal{Z}}}$ for the KE and MAE conditions, respectively.

Figure 8

Figure 9. The radial dependences of the normalized ion heat diffusivity, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{model}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ (the solid curve) and that for $\bar{{\mathcal{Z}}}=0$ (the dashed curve) are shown for (a) the standard field configuration and (b) the inward-shifted field configuration. The black and red curves represent the model predictions for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ for the cases of the modified adiabatic and kinetic electron responses, respectively.

Figure 9

Figure 10. The radial dependence of the normalized ion heat diffusivity, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ is shown by the ion heat diffusivity model (the red curve) and the quasilinear flux model for the ion heat transport (the blue curve) for the case of the kinetic electron response in (a) the standard field configuration and (b) the inward-shifted field configuration. The radial dependence of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{model}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ is also shown by the ion heat diffusivity model (the black curve) for the modified adiabatic electron condition. The circle and triangle marks indicate the nonlinear simulation results of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{model}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}_{\text{i}}^{\text{GB}}$ in the KE and MAE conditions, respectively.