Developments in the gyrofluid approach to Tokamak turbulence simulations

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.