3D numerical simulations of energy transport in the stochastic boundary of TEXTOR-DED with a finite difference method

Abstract

The effect of magnetic field line ergodization that eliminates magnetic surfaces (either by a resonant magnetic perturbation like in TEXTOR-DED or by intrinsic plasma effects like in W7-X) imposes the need for plasma transport models being able to describe this properly. To handle the ergodicity the concept of local magnetic coordinates allowing a correct discretization of the transport equations with minimized numerical errors is used. For the simulation of plasma transport in perturbed volume, a numerical method based on the finite difference concept has been developed, using a custom-tailored unstructured grid in local magnetic coordinates. This grid is generated by field line tracing to guarantee complete separation of the large parallel transport along B and that perpendicular to B and the ergodicity of the magnetic field does not limit applicability of the method in contrast to the methods based on finite volume ansatz. Perpendicular and parallel fluxes can be effectively separated in our approach and treated independently in the numerical method which has been implemented in the FINDIF code.The finite difference code FINDIF is used to investigate the energy transport in the complex 3D TEXTOR-DED tokamak geometry, where the plasma structures and transport are closely related to the structure of the magnetic field lines. Numerical grids have been prepared in order to simulate 12/4 and 6/2 modes of the DED operation, respectively. In particular, the question, what is the role of long and short magnetic field lines in the heat transfer from the core plasma to divertor surface, is addressed. Simulation results are compared with experimentally determined temperature profiles and heat fluxes at the target.