Divertor transport study in the large helical device

Abstract

The edge transport properties in LHD have been investigated in order to clarify divertor/SOL functions of heliotron type device. The momentum loss, mainly through friction of counter-flows induced by ergodic field lines, breaks the pressure conservation along flux tubes. This prevents high recycling regime even at high density operation, n¯∼7×1019m-3. The momentum loss is found to be larger than in W7-AS. This is because of the higher ratio of perpendicular and parallel transport scale length, ∼10−4, in the ergodic layer, which enhances the friction between counter-flows more than in the island divertor. In the heliotron configuration, a large temperature drop from LCFS to divertor by an order of magnitude is easily realized due to the long connection length in the ergodic layer. This is certainly a favourable feature for future reactors in terms of reduction of damage on the divertor plate.